==========================================START OF PAGE 1====== UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 14803 / January 30, 1996 SEC v. Ronald M. Zook, et al., Case No. 95-798-CIV-ORL-22 (M.D. Fla.) The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that on January 24, 1996, Honorable Anne C. Conway, United States District Judge for the Middle District of Florida, entered a final judgment of permanent injunction upon default against Ronald M. Zook ("Zook") and Financial Concepts Group International, Inc. ("FCGI") (collectively "Defendants"), enjoining them from future violations of the registration and antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. Previously, on August 7, 1995, the Commission filed a Complaint against the Defendants, alleging violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c) and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5, thereunder. The Complaint alleged that from at least late 1992 through March 1995, Defendants defrauded at least 195 investors residing in at least 21 states of a total of approximately $6 million, by soliciting them to invest in investment contracts involving "prime bank" instruments, a/k/a "overseas" or "European bank debentures" and a program involving trading on overseas markets. The Complaint further alleged that Defendants defrauded investors by making material misrepresentations and omissions of material facts regarding the nature, safety and returns of investors' purported investments. Specifically, the Complaint alleged that Defendants misrepresented to investors that their money was being used to invest in risk-free, prime bank instruments and bank debentures paying 60% to 216% interest per year. In at least four instances, defendants misrepresented to investors that their funds were being placed in "secured investments" to trade on various stock exchanges, including the European, Japanese and Hong Kong stock markets, paying 120% interest per year. According to the Complaint, Defendants neither invested in prime bank instruments or bank debentures, nor engaged in trading on any overseas or other exchange. Instead, they allegedly used investor funds to: (a) pay business and personal expenses; (b) make "interest" payments to other investors; and (c) provide interest-free loans - - some or all of which have never been repaid - - to various private corporations of which Zook is an officer and/or shareholder; and (d) provide a "loan" to a Nevada corporation with whom Zook claimed to have used to locate financing. ==========================================START OF PAGE 2====== - 2 - In addition, the Complaint alleged that Defendants provided investors with: (a) "full recourse agreements" and other documents which falsely represented that their principal was guaranteed up to $30 million; and (b) sham "Bank Debenture Quarterly Report[s]" which referenced the principal amount invested and the interest purportedly being earned on investors' principal. Zook, approximately 32 years old, resides in Oviedo, Florida. FCGI was located in Winter Park, Florida.