Fred Brandau, Ray Levy, Zane Balsam, Gary Pierce, Gar Hogan, Al Lewis, Jeffrey Paine, Ivan Burgos, Wanda Tirado, and Juan Arroyo are currently in prison. This summer Mr. Brandau lost his appeal to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He had argued that his sentence of 55 years was cruel and unusual punishment and that the sentence should not have been increased when U.S. District Court Judge Hurley determined Mr. Brandau and others had targeted a class of elderly victims. This was a huge victory for the U.S. Attorneys' Office and we certainly hope they will be equally successful in the appeals filed by Zane Balsam, Gary Pierce, Al Lewis, and Gar Hogan. The Finfedinfo.com website has a section which describes the various sentences.

Although I fully expect the government will prevail in the remaining appeals, $2,988,590, which I currently hold from the sale of seized assets, may not be distributed until appeals are exhausted. I have only three lots in Puerto Rico, which were seized by the government., left to sell as Restitution Receiver.

2. The Post-Confirmation Creditors' Committee obtained Bankruptcy Court approval to retain the Rice, Pugatch, Robinson & Schiller law firm to sue Union Bank as co-plaintiff in a class action. I am not a party or involved in the litigation, which is in the initial pleading stage. Mr. Rice's law firm will provide a separate notice, if appropriate, at a later time.

3. The Grant Law Firm in Seattle, Washington has filed a class action against the State of Florida's Department of Insurance alleging the Department was negligent in failing to shut down the FinFed/ABS scam. My paralegal, Monica Bruce, and I shared many of our files and identified potential witnesses to the Grant Law Firm and I have reviewed the complaint. Mr. Benjamin Schwartzman, the lead lawyer on this case, has agreed that any recoveries obtained in this lawsuit will be processed through the claims distribution process I have established for criminal restitution, bankruptcy, and the other class action case to minimize duplication and delays.

The State of Florida Department of Insurance has filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, which motions to dismiss will be heard by Judge Jorge Labarga in the State Court in West Palm Beach, Florida on Tuesday, January 21, 2003 at 8:15 a.m. This hearing is open to the public, like all the other criminal and bankruptcy hearings are. If you would like to listen to the arguments, you should go to:

Palm Beach County Courthouse

205 North Dixie Highway, Room 11A,

West Palm Beach, Florida

Note: This is the State Courthouse and not the Federal Courthouse

where the criminal trials or bankruptcy hearings took place.

I suggest you arrive early to get a seat. Of course, you absolutely do not need to be at this hearing to later participate in this lawsuit if it survives the State of Florida's defenses. I do not plan to be at the hearing, but will ask Monica to observe.

C. Bankruptcy Administration and Litigation

1. Settled Litigation: We are wrapping up litigation and are often finding that targets have few assets. We received funds since the March 25, 2002 (Status Letter No. 12) from:

A. CardCommerce and Messrs. Fontana and Linden: We have now collected a total of $1,293,000 towards an agreed upon settlement figure of $2,612,000 plus interest. I have occasionally agreed to reduce and delay payments to help this company survive and no guarantees have been made as to future recoveries.

B. Thomas Sclafani: This was one of Fred Brandau's lawyers and I settled with him and his investigators for a total of $90,000.

C. Zoological Society of Florida: $25,000

D. Harley Davidson of Florida: $25,000

E. West Coast Acquisitions: $65,000

F. Lou Bachrodt Chevrolet: $42,000

G. Luis Cruz: We obtained title to two lots located in Florida, one in Polk County and the other in Marion County, and a 1999 Mercedes Benz, which we are attempting to sell and/or auction.

2. Pending and Potential Litigation: We have several adversary cases pending and demands against others where the statute of limitations have been tolled. Some of the cases may be dismissed to avoid disproportionately high legal fees and some cases will proceed to trial, if I believe I have a good chance of prevailing and collecting. I do not expect any further, major recoveries.

3. Vehicles: I have four vehicles which will be sold at an auction on Saturday, February 1, 2003 at 10:00 a.m., at 1855 Northeast 143^rd Street, North Miami Beach, Florida. They are as follows: 1999 Mercedes Benz C230 Kompressor with 33,000 miles; 1999 540i BMW with 19,000 miles; 1971 Camaro in excellent condition; and 1967 Chevrolet Malibu which is 75% complete and partially restored. I hope to net $30,000 for the sale of these vehicles. The public and all investors are certainly welcome to attend this auction. For pictures and information concerning the vehicles, please go to my website and click onto the "vehicle" section. I will also try to sell these vehicles privately before the auction date.

4. Personal Property: Some furniture, a big screen television, complete stereo system and other items that were seized pursuant to a judgment obtained against Ronalee Levy Orlick and will be sold at an auction on Thursday, December 19, 2002 at 10:00 a.m. The public is invited to attend the auction which will take place at Browning-Trez Moving and Storage, 1721 Blount Road, Suite 2, Pompano Beach, Florida. Their phone number is [(954) 971-7112] and you should call it for directions.

5. Real Property: I am trying to sell three seized, vacant lots in Puerto Rico, a lot in Polk County, Florida and a lot in Marion County, Florida, as well as a time-share unit in Ft. Lauderdale. Details are available on my website.

In October 2002, I recovered $302,350 as satisfaction of an equitable lien obtained against a house owned by Ronalee Levy Orlick and her husband. This is Ray Levy's daughter and I need to hold the funds pending additional court rulings and, perhaps, a jury trial.

6. Viaticals: A few policies have matured and I have collected $1,595,732.96 from them. I know you were all told the viators (the people who were insured) were diagnosed with AIDs or were HIV positive, and were not expected to live more than three years, but that simply has not happened. I sold 36 policies for a total of $1,302,220.62 and am still holding 190 policies with a face value of approximately $17,247,354.90. It is currently costing you - the victims - approximately $180,000 per year in premiums and additional funds in accounting, legal and management fees to maintain these policies. I am aggressively trying to sell the policies at a discount and have decided to let some of the policies on younger viators expire if the expected recovery is very low.

I view these policies as my last, potentially large asset and I have conferred frequently with experts and the Post-Confirmation Creditors' Committee about how to sell them or which ones to hold. I could never hope someone would die soon, even if it meant a larger recovery for you, and I must tell you the "sure thing" promises by some of the people convicted and some of the brokers were simply never true. Medical advances have also definitely increased the life expectancy of people with HIV.

D. Administrative Actions of Interest

1. Brokers: You will recall that I advised you in May 2001 that the State of Florida's Department of Banking and Finance held a press conference and announced it was seeking fines of more than $9 million against brokers and agents and took the position that all recovered fines would be kept by the State for future investigations. After a number of you wrote letters to the Governor and other officials, the Department of Banking and Financing agreed to turnover any funds received from settlements to me for distribution to you. Thus far, a total of $130,404 in settlements have been reached and I have collected most of this, although, there are some installment payments which are still due.

The State of Florida has recently filed Amended Complaints against the 114 brokers/agents who did not settle and has advised me that funds collected - if any - as a result of these efforts will not be made available for the victims. I had hoped the State of Florida would recover far more in fines for your benefit, but it now appears the efforts to pursue the brokers by the State, class action counsel, and me will be largely unsuccessful.

2. Donald Denton: On November 20, 2002 the Administrative Law Judge for the Division of Department Administrative Hearings entered a recommended order directing the Department of Banking and Finance enter its Final Order finding Donald Denton guilty of violations of Sections 517.07(1) and 517.12(1), Florida Statutes (Florida Securities Laws) and ordered Donald Denton to cease and desist from engaging in any transaction constituting the sale of securities in Florida. Further, the order recommended that a Final Judgment be entered imposing fines against Donald Denton for the amount of $260,000 and against his company, Strategic Strategies, Inc. in the amount of $40,000. Donald Denton has 15 days from November 20, 2002 to submit written exceptions prior to the entry of the Final Judgment. This is very favorable ruling, but is not expected to result in funds being available for you.

3. Criminal Defendants: FinFed's inside lawyer, Gar Hogan, was disbarred by the Florida Supreme Court. Jeffrey Paine was previously prohibited from practicing law. The SEC obtained injunctions against Ray Levy and Jeffrey Paine, and enjoined them from engaging in the sale of unregistered securities.

4. Lou Ratfield: The IRS persuaded the U.S. District Court in Palm Beach County to enjoin Louis W. Ratfield and his company, LWR Financial Services Trust, from selling trusts to reduce or substantially eliminate Federal income taxes. I mention this because I have learned some of your brokers encouraged you to use Mr. Ratfield to establish Trusts. I can not tell you whether any Trusts set up for you by Mr. Ratfield comply with tax laws.

5. Ronalee Orlick: On June 15, 2002, the State of Texas entered an order placing Ronalee Orlick (Ray Levy's daughter) on 4 years of probation, pursuant to a plea agreement. The State previously indicted Ronalee Orlick for the sale of securities by an unregistered dealer. Punishment, including prison term, was deferred and suspended.

E. Claims and Tax Information:

As claims related issues are drawing to an end, the victim claims unit and informational assistance that has been provided by my paralegal, Monica Bruce, will soon be reduced. Monica will continue to offer assistance, but on a part-time basis. If you have any questions concerning your check or matters discussed here, we still request you leave Monica Bruce a message on her direct line (305) 377-0661 and she will return your call as soon as practical. Remember, we have more than 3,500 victims, so please be patient. Also remember that if you need an address updated, you need to provide written notification of your new location by mail to her attention at the above address and it will get properly noted in our records.

Many of you continue to call Monica Bruce and me and ask when you may declare losses on income tax returns and how much you have received from me in the past year. I want to help you, but I can not give tax advice, and I urge you to keep your check stubs (deposit detail) so you will have a record of distributions. For the calendar year ending 2002, the distribution percentages were as follows:

March 2002 Bankruptcy Distribution: 1.608321%

Restitution Distribution: 2.238309%

May 2002 Class Action Distribution: 3.352800%

TOTAL PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR 2002: 7.199430%

You can calculate the amount you received in 2002 by multiplying 7.1993% times your allowed claim.

Remember, if you assigned your claim to a third-party, you were only entitled to receive the Restitution distribution.