Release:
    ����������������
    #4314-99
     For Release:�������� September 27,
    1999

CFTC FILES CIVIL INJUNCTIVE ENFORCEMENT AGAINST DENVER-BASED
    CLAIRMONT CAPITAL CORP., AND ITS PRINCIPALS, GEOFFREY L. MANN AND CHARLES
    W. TRENCH, CHARGING THEM WITH FRAUD AND SELLING ILLEGAL FOREIGN CURRENCY
    OPTIONS

CFTC Action Charges That The Defendants Made False Representations
    Regarding Potential Profits and Risks

WASHINGTON � The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
    announced that it filed today a three-count
    injunctive complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of
    Colorado against Clairmont Capital Corp. (Clairmont), a Colorado
    corporation with offices in Denver, Colorado, and its principals: Geoffrey L. Mann, president, and Charles W. Trench, vice
    president, charging them with, among other things, making material
    misrepresentations and omitting material facts in connection with the sale
    of illegal foreign currency options contracts. Mann, of Denver, Colorado,
    is not currently registered with the CFTC, and Trench, also of Denver, has
    never been registered with the CFTC.

The CFTC's complaint alleges that the defendants violated the anti-fraud
    provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC regulations,
    specifically section 4c(b) of the CEA and regulation 32.9, in connection
    with the solicitation and offer or sale of commodity options contracts to
    customers or prospective customers. The CFTC also alleges that the
    defendants sold illegal commodity options and failed to give required
    disclosures to customers, in violation of sections 4c(b) of the CEA and
    regulations 32.5, 32.11, and 33.3(a).

The CFTC complaint alleges that from July 1998 through the present,
    Clairmont, Mann, and Trench, among other things, cheated, defrauded, and
    deceived customers by making misrepresentations of material fact regarding
    the likelihood of profit and the limited risk of loss in trading foreign
    currency option contracts; by failing to provide customers with material
    information concerning fees; and by failing to disclose to customers that
    Clairmont was the grantor of the options it recommended to customers.

Specifically, the complaint alleges, among other things, that Clairmont
    represented to potential customers that they could earn as much as 100
    percent to 200 percent trading options on Japanese Yen, when, in fact,
    virtually all customers lost a substantial portion of their money investing
    with Clairmont, and omitted to tell customers that Clairmont routinely
    charges a $250 "mark up" on each option in addition to a $250 commission.
    The complaint also alleges that Clairmont offered to enter into, and
    entered into, commodity options transactions not conducted on, or subject
    to, the rules of a board of trade that has been designated by the CFTC as a
    contract market.

The CFTC, in its complaint, charges Mann and Trench individually with
    directly violating the anti-fraud provisions of the CEA and with being a
    controlling person responsible for Clairmont's illegal acts under
    section 13(b) of the CEA.

Phyllis J. Cela, Acting Director of the CFTC's Division of
    Enforcement, commented: "This case is part of the Commission's
    enforcement program's continued effort to protect the retail public
    from fraudulent foreign currency schemes. We would like to remind
    individuals considering trading in foreign currencies that the Commission
    released a Consumer Advisory on Foreign Currency Trading Fraud, which provides
    warning signs of possible fraudulent activity. The advisory is posted on
    the CFTC's website: www.cftc.gov."

In its continuing litigation against the defendants, the CFTC is seeking
    orders of preliminary and permanent injunction, in addition to other
    remedial relief including disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, restitution to
    defrauded investors, and civil monetary penalties not exceeding $110,000 or
    triple the monetary gain to the defendants, whichever is greater, for each
    violation of the CEA or CFTC regulations.

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