UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

LITIGATION RELEASE NO. 17480 / April 22, 2002

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. Advance Local Development Corp., et. al., CV01-0897 (E.D. N.Y.)

Judge John Gleeson in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York on January 15, 2002, entered a Final Judgment against Advance Local Development Corp., of Brooklyn, New York; C. Edmund Burton, of Brooklyn, New York; and Ralph W. Odom, of Las Vegas, Nevada. The case is continuing against the final defendant, Thomas J. Wescott.

The complaint alleged that from February 1999 through April 2000 Advance raised $16.5 million from investors in a prime bank fraud by promising annualized rates of return as high as 2,600 percent per year, with no risk to capital. According to the complaint, Advance represented that investor funds would be placed into a federally approved "bank to bank" trading program with Advance's share of the profits used to promote humanitarian efforts. The complaint alleged that investor funds were never placed into a trading program, as no such program exists. Instead, investor funds were used to make undisclosed payments to the proposed defendants, placed in a brokerage account where they financed unsuccessful day trading activities, and used for Ponzi payments to investors.

Without admitting or denying the substantive allegations, Advance, Burton, and Odom consented to the entry of a judgment permanently enjoining them from violating Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Section 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933. Judge Gleeson further ordered Advance to disgorge profits of $9,259,736.93 and to pay a civil money penalty of $250,000. Judge Gleeson ordered Burton to disgorge profits of $44,634.72 and to pay a civil money penalty of $50,000. Judge Gleeson ordered Odom to disgorge profits of $76,155.55 and to pay a civil money penalty of $50,000