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               SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                              Washington, D.C.

Litigation Release No. 14905/ May 9, 1996 

Accounting and Auditing Enforcement 
   Release No. 780/ May 9, 1996                    

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. GERALD R. BLACKIE, JON R.
ERICKSON AND MARK S. TAGUE (Civ. No. 96-1059) (TPJ)

     The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission")
announced today that it filed and simultaneously settled a
financial fraud action seeking permanent injunctions and monetary
and other relief in the United States District Court for the
District of Columbia against three former senior managers of
Platinum Software Corporation ("Platinum" or the
"Company") -- Gerald R. Blackie ("Blackie"), formerly Platinum's
Chief Executive Officer, President and Chairman of the Board of
Directors, Jon R. Erickson ("Erickson"), formerly Platinum's
Chief Financial Officer, who is a certified public accountant
("CPA"), and Mark S. Tague, formerly Platinum's Executive Vice
President/Corporate Controller, who is an inactive CPA.  The
Complaint alleges that during 1993 and early 1994, the defendants
engaged in a fraudulent accounting scheme to overstate Platinum's
revenue, earnings and cash received and understate the time the
Company was taking to collect its receivables, and to support
these misstatements and conceal them from the Company's
independent auditors, among others, by backdating and withholding
documents and manipulating the Company's accounting records.  

     According to the Complaint, the scheme involved, among other
things, the improper recording of revenue from a number of
license agreements that were accompanied by an undisclosed side
letter giving the customer the right to cancel the agreement for
a period of time, the backdating of license agreements and
shipping documents to record revenue prematurely, the holding
open of Platinum's books for cash received, and the arbitrary
reclassification of receivables as cash.  

     In addition, the Complaint alleges, Blackie, Erickson and
Tague each sold Platinum common stock while they were in
possession of adverse material non-public information about
Platinum's true financial condition, thereby avoiding trading
losses of $1,018,000, $498,000 and $960,000, respectively.  
Blackie, Erickson and Tague also received bonuses of $128,125,
$50,000 and $6,000, respectively, during the period of the
alleged fraud based upon Platinum's purportedly strong financial
performance.
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     The Commission charged that by the alleged conduct Blackie,
Erickson and Tague violated the antifraud and certain other
provisions of the federal securities laws, specifically, Section
17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 10(b) and
13(b)(5) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5,
13b2-1 and 13b2-2 thereunder.  

     The Commission also today entered cease and desist orders,
by consent, as to Platinum based upon the alleged scheme, and as
to two of its sales managers, John F. Keane and William B. Falk,
based upon acts that allegedly contributed to the scheme. 
Finally, Erickson and Tague have agreed to the institution of
administrative proceedings pursuant to Rule 102(e) of the
Commission's Rules of Practice, upon entry of the injunctions,
barring Erickson permanently and barring Tague for a period of at
least five years from appearing or practicing before the
Commission as an accountant. 

     Relief

     Simultaneously with the filing of the Commission's
Complaint, Blackie, Erickson and Tague, without admitting or
denying the allegations of the Complaint, consented to the entry
of Final Judgments permanently enjoining them from violating the
provisions of the federal securities laws charged against them,
ordering them to disgorge trading losses avoided and the
previously noted bonuses paid to them by Platinum during the
period of the alleged fraud, plus prejudgment interest thereon,
and directing Blackie and Tague to pay civil money penalties of
$100,000 and $50,000, respectively.  Blackie and Erickson also
consented to provisions in the Final Judgments barring each for a
period of ten years from serving as an officer or director of any
public reporting company.  In the proposed Final Judgment to
which he consented, Tague agreed to disgorge $210,000 in trading
losses avoided, plus $161,590 prejudgment interest, in addition
to the amounts he previously disgorged in a related shareholder
action.  In the proposed Final Judgment to which Erickson
consented, the Court would not impose a civil money penalty and
Erickson's disgorgement of trading losses avoided and bonuses
received would be limited to $100,000, based upon his
demonstrated inability to pay and on amounts he previously dis-
gorged in a related shareholder action.