==========================================START OF PAGE 1====== UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 15152 / November 7, 1996 SEC v. W. Ralph Wills, III and ProFinancial Advisors, Inc. (N.D. Ga., Civil Action No. 1:96-CV-2472) The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that a complaint was filed by the Commission on September 23, 1996, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against W. Ralph Wills, III ("Wills") and ProFinancial Advisors, Inc. ("ProFinancial"), an Investment Adviser, registered with the Commission. The complaint seeks to permanently enjoin ProFinancial and Wills from violating Section 204 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 ("Adviser's Act") and Rule 204-1 thereunder; Section 206(4)-2 of the Adviser's Act and Rule 206(4)-2 thereunder; Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder; and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933. The Commission also seeks disgorgement of all ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest thereon, and civil penalties. The Adviser's Act violations primarily concern the operation and management of two Investment Clubs by ProFinancial and Wills, the president, sole shareholder and only employee of ProFinancial. Additionally, Wills, through ProFinancial, violated the antifraud provisions of the securities laws by offering and selling investment contracts in early 1994 which were part of a prime bank scheme. The scheme, as communicated by Wills to the investors, involved the purchase of prime bank notes with a face value of $200 million which would be purchased at a discount and then resold for a profit. Wills and ProFinancial obtained funds from investors by misrepresenting or failing to disclose material facts in connection with the sale of prime bank notes. Among other misrepresentations, Wills falsely represented that the investments were virtually risk-free and made unrealistic predictions to investors of the exorbitant profits to be made from the scheme.