==========================================START OF PAGE 1====== SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION LITIGATION RELEASE No. 14967 / June 28, 1996 SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. NORMAN L. BROOKS, FINANCIAL ADVISORS, INC. (d.b.a. "AMERICAN FINANCIAL ADVISORS"), AMERICAN CAPITAL FUNDING, INC., FW ADVISORS, INC., WILLIAM F. KANE, JAMES PAPATOLA, VICTOR G. CAMPANA, JAMES BROOKS (a.k.a. "David Gertzinger"), KEN BOGANNAM, ADAMS FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC., ADAMS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC., MICHAEL W. ADAMS, RONNIE LEE AWTRY, KARL DON MILSTEAD, DONALD H. STRINGER, DAVID M. STOVER, and SAINT CLAIR AINSLEY KNIGHT, JR. (United States District Court for the District of New Hampshire, C.A. No. C-94-167-JD) The Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") announced that on June 6, 1996, the Honorable Joseph A. DiClerico, Chief Judge, U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire, ordered William F. Kane ("Kane"), of Lowell, Massachusetts, to disgorge $122,670 plus prejudgment interest in the above-referenced action. The court previously had found Kane liable for violations of the antifraud, securities registration and broker-dealer registration provisions of the federal securities laws. The court declined to impose a civil monetary penalty against Kane based upon evidence of his financial inability to pay. In its Complaint filed on April 5, 1994, the Commission alleged that Kane and sixteen other defendants engaged in a fraudulent "boiler-room" offering of unregistered securities that raised more than $3.5 million from more than 100 investors in 25 states. The Commission alleged that, in addition to soliciting investors directly, Kane organized, trained and supervised a team of telemarketers who solicited tens or hundreds of thousands of potential investors nationwide by reading sales scripts over the telephone. The Commission further alleged that Kane made, and caused others to make, false statements and omissions of material fact to potential investors, including representations that the proceeds of the sales of the securities would be used to make automobile loans the repayment of which was "insured," when, in fact, most of the proceeds of the securities sales were converted to the personal benefit of the defendants. On October 24, 1995, Kane pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail, wire and securities fraud based upon the same conduct alleged in the Commission's Complaint. His sentencing in the criminal case is scheduled for July 18, 1996. The Commission's civil injunctive action is continuing as to Norman L. Brooks ("Brooks"), formerly of Bedford, New Hampshire, James Brooks (a.k.a. "David Gertzinger"), of Manchester, New Hampshire, and Brooks' companies, Financial Advisors, Inc. (d.b.a. "American Financial Advisors"), American Capital Funding ==========================================START OF PAGE 2====== Corporation, F.W. Advisors, Inc. The Commission has obtained default judgments against each of those defendants on all issues except the amount of monetary relief they will be required to pay. - 2 - The assets of those defendants are subject to a freeze order entered by the court, and Brooks' companies are in receivership. For more information, see prior Litigation Release Nos. 14048, 14055, 14076, 14142, 14235, 14324, 14410 and 14703.