U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                                

Litigation Release No. 15132 / October 22, 1996

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION v. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BUSH,
III, and BEN BUSH INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, INC., a California
corporation, Civil Action No. 96-6748 (RSWL) (Ex) (C.D. Cal.)

     The United States Securities and Exchange Commission
announced that on October 4, 1996, the Honorable Ronald S.W. Lew
entered a preliminary injunction against the defendants in the
above matter.  The Commission had previously obtained a temporary
restraining order against the defendants on September 26, 1996 to
halt an ongoing investment scheme by Los Angeles-based investment
adviser Benjamin Franklin Bush, III.  The preliminary injunction
continues to bar the defendants from committing their fraudulent
activities.  

     In its lawsuit, which was filed in the United States
District Court for the Central District of California, the
Commission informed the Court that Bush had been commingling and
misappropriating client funds and had prepared false account
statements to conceal his misappropriation.  Bush had also used
forged brokerage statements to solicit clients' business.  In
addition, Bush induced several of his clients to purchase
Brazilian bonds of uncertain value issued in 1902 and 1915 which
Bush keeps in his safety deposit box at his local bank. 

     Bush, through his firm, Ben Bush Investment Management, Inc.
located in Pacific Palisades, California, manages approximately
$10 million for wealthy and sophisticated clients nationwide. 
The Commission's complaint alleges, among other things, that from
January 1995 through the present, Bush has misappropriated at
least $450,000 of his clients' funds.  In executing his scheme,
Bush allegedly accepts money from clients to purchase investments
on their behalf, but does not purchase the investments.  Instead,
Bush commingles client funds with his own funds in a single
corporate bank account which he uses like a private checking
account to pay his own expenses, such as rent, alimony and car
insurance, and to purchase such personal items as hockey tickets
and jewelry.  Bush then sends his clients false account
statements, fraudulently showing that he had purchased
investments on their behalf.  

     As a result of this action, Bush and Ben Bush Investment
Management, Inc. are enjoined from future violations of Section
17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and
Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940
("Advisers Act"), antifraud provisions; Section 206(4) of the
Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-2 thereunder, custody and possessionviolations; Section 204 of the Advisers Act and Rules 204-
1(b)(2), 204-2(a) and 204-2(b) thereunder, books and records
violations; and Section 207 of the Advisers Act, registration
filings violations.