U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

        Litigation Release No. 16146 / May 14, 1999

        SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. WALDRON & CO., INC.; CERY B.
        PERLE, Civil Action No. 99-3299 DT (Ex) (C.D. Cal.)

             A federal judge in Los Angeles has found that Cery B. Perle,
        part owner and former president of a now-defunct Irvine, California
        brokerage firm, Waldron & Co., manipulated the stock of the Corona
        del Mar, California Internet retailer, Shopping.com.  In the
        decision, which was in response to a lawsuit filed by the Securities
        and Exchange Commission last September, the judge found that Perle,
        age 36, planned, directed and executed a scheme to fraudulently
        increase the price of Shopping.com’s stock by 255%.  Waldron profited
        by over $4.1 million from the illegal scheme.

             The findings, which were signed by U.S. District Judge Dickran
        Tevrizian on May 3, 1999 and released this week, show that from
        November 25, 1997 through March 23, 1998, Perle and Waldron
        artificially raised the price of Shopping.com’s stock from its IPO
        price of $9.00 to more than $32.00 a share.  The Commission had
        suspended trading in the security on March 24, 1998, due to suspected
        manipulative conduct.

             Perle manipulated Shopping.com’s stock by, among other things,
        controlling the supply for the security.  In fact, the court found
        that Perle and Waldron controlled over 90% of the supply of
        Shopping.com’s stock.  In order to control supply, Perle sold 220,000
        shares of Shopping.com’s stock to Waldron customers without their
        authorization, parking the stock in their accounts while asking a
        Waldron broker to "bury" more stock in the accounts of other Waldron
        customers.  Perle also parked at least 75,000 shares in twelve
        fictitious customer accounts.  To further control supply and prop up
        the price of Shopping.com’s stock, Perle prevented Waldron customers
        from selling their stock.  According to the court’s findings, Perle
        threatened to fire any Waldron broker who allowed customers to sell
        Shopping.com’s stock to persons outside of Waldron.  He ridiculed
        brokers who allowed their customers to sell at all and made brokers
        sign an agreement forfeiting their commissions if their customers
        sold Shopping.com’s stock within 90 days of their purchase.
        Moreover, Perle personally refused to honor sell instructions that he
        received from Waldron customers.

             In addition to making the above findings, the court permanently
        enjoined Waldron and Perle from violating the antifraud provisions of
        the federal securities laws, Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of
        1933 and Sections 10(b) and 15(c)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act
        of 1934 and Rules 10b-5 and 15c1-2 thereunder.  The court also
        imposed $110,000 in civil penalties against Perle.