UNITED  STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

          SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
          Release No.   7615 / December 9, 1998

          SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
          Release No. 40766 / December 9, 1998

          ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDING
          File No. 3-9786

               The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission  announced today
          that  it  issued  an order instituting public administrative  and
          cease-and-desist proceedings  against Richard Hoffman ("Hoffman")
          and instituting public administrative  proceedings  against  Kirk
          Montgomery ("Montgomery").

               According  to  the order, Hoffman is the principal of a one-
          person branch office  of  an  Atlanta-based  broker-dealer.  That
          branch  office, located in Hoffman's home in Palm,  Pennsylvania,
          services   approximately   2000   accounts.    The   Division  of
          Enforcement  alleges that between July 1, 1993, and December  31,
          1994, Hoffman defrauded some of his customers by inducing them to
          incur the costs  associated  with  liquidating shares of a mutual
          funds which they had owned for a relatively  short period of time
          in order to purchase shares of another mutual fund.  Hoffman, did
          so in order to increase his compensation when  the benefit to the
          customer  did  not  justify those costs.  The Commission's  order
          also alleges that Hoffman  failed  to  inform  his  customers  of
          material facts such as the charges and fees they would incur when
          they  liquidated  shares of certain mutual funds, the charges and
          fees associated with  purchasing  shares  of mutual funds and the
          availability of less expensive alternatives  for  changing mutual
          funds.   In  the  order,  the Division also alleges that  Hoffman
          recommended  that  some customers,  who  wanted  relatively  safe
          investments, invest  in  speculative  mutual funds that he should
          have  known  were unsuitable for those customers.   Hoffman  sold
          shares of mutual  funds  to  a customer in an amount close to the
          level at which that customer could  have  received  a  commission
          discount  without  informing his customer of the availability  of
          that discount and making  sure  that  his  customer  had adequate
          opportunity to study and understand his choices.

               In the order, the Division also alleges that Montgomery, who
          was the Chief Compliance Officer of the broker-dealer  with which
          Hoffman  was  associated, failed to supervise Hoffman reasonably.
          The   broker-dealer's   supervisory   procedures   delegated   to
          Montgomery  the  responsibility for supervising the principals of
          certain branch offices  such as Hoffman's.  Montgomery, failed to
          ever conduct a review of  all  of Hoffman's accounts for evidence
          of sale practice abuses or to ensure  that  anyone else regularly
          conducted  such a review.  According to the Division,  Montgomery
          also  failed  to  employ  the  automated  mutual  fund  switching
          exception  report  which  he  represented  to  the Commission was
          "operational"  to  monitor  for  mutual  fund  switching.   Those
          failures  on  Montgomery's  part  contributed  to the  registered
          broker-dealer's failure to detect the switching  in which Hoffman
          was engaging in 1993 and 1994.

               A  hearing  will  be  scheduled  to  determine  whether  the
          allegations against Hoffman and Montgomery are true, and  if  so,
          what  sanctions,  if  any, are appropriate in the public interest
          against them.