Release: #4063-97

For Release: October 10, 1997PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION ENTERED AGAINST FTI FINANCIAL GROUP OF TOLEDO,
    OHIO, AND THREE OF ITS PARTNERS IN CFTC ANTI-FRAUD ENFORCEMENT
    ACTIONThe Defendants Allegedly Acted as Unregistered Pool Operators and
    Received More than $1.2 Million from Approximately 30 Investors in Three
    Commodity Pools
    WASHINGTON -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced
    today that on October 9, 1997, Judge Harry D. Leinenweber of the U.S.
    District Court for the Northern District of Illinois (Eastern Division)
    entered a consent order of preliminary injunction against FTI Financial
    Group (FTI) of Toledo, Ohio, a general partnership, and its three
    partners: Samuel H. Foreman of Maumee, Ohio; Mark G. Stevens
    of Grand Rapids, Ohio; and Carolyn F. Munn of Swanton, Ohio. None of
    these defendants has ever been registered with the CFTC.

The court's order requires the defendants to distribute more than
    $271,400 to commodity pool investors, freezes the defendants' assets,
    requires them to make an accounting, and bars them from the futures
    industry until further order of the court. The court's order also prohibits
    them from violating the Commodity Exchange Act's anti-fraud and
    registration provisions until further order of the court.

The court's order stems from a five-count civil complaint filed on
    October 9, 1997, alleging that the defendants -- FTI Financial Group,
    Foreman, Stevens, and Munn -- cheated and defrauded commodity pool
    participants, misappropriated money solicited from FTI participants, and
    acted as commodity pool operators (CPOs) or as associated persons of a CPO
    without being registered with the CFTC.

Specifically, the CFTC complaint alleges that the defendants
    misrepresented to pool participants that their investments had minimum risk
    and were secured, misrepresented the actual value of participants'
    investments, and issued false reports, among other charges. According to
    the complaint, since May 1996, the defendants received more than $1.2
    million from approximately 30 investors in three commodity pools: CMS
    Partners I L.P., CMS Partners II L.P., and the FTI pool. Allegedly, the
    pools lost a total of more than $717,000 in commodity interest trading and
    the defendants used approximately $200,000 of investors' money to pay FTI's
    expenses and fees.

The immediate distribution of $271,400 ordered by the court will pay
    back the investors' pro-rated shares of the money remaining from their
    investments in the three commodity pools. The funds have been held in
    escrow by the defendants' attorneys since June 1997.

In its continuing litigation, the CFTC is seeking a permanent injunction
    against the defendants prohibiting them from violating federal commodity
    law as charged, requiring them to make restitution to customers, requiring
    disgorgement of unlawfully obtained benefits, and imposing civil penalties
    to be assessed by the court separately against each defendant in amounts
    not to exceed the higher of $110,000 or triple the monetary gain to
    defendants for each violation of the CEA and CFTC regulations.

The CFTC's investigation in this matter is continuing.