FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         CRM
WEDNESDAY, MAY 21, 1997                            (202) 514-2008
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

   CRIMINAL INFORMATIONS FILED AGAINST DEMOCRATIC FUND-RAISERS
             IN ILLEGAL CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTION SCHEME


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Department of Justice today filed
criminal informations charging Democratic fund-raisers Nora T.
Lum, 54, and Gene K.H. Lum, 57, with a felony conspiracy based
upon a scheme to make about $50,000 in illegal campaign
contributions, through conduit or "straw" donors, to the 1994
federal campaigns of incumbent United States Senator Edward M.
Kennedy and W. Stuart Price, the Democratic nominee for the
United States House of Representatives in the First Congressional
District of Oklahoma.

     A daughter of the Lums, Trisha C. Lum, 27, also was charged
with a misdemeanor violation arising from a separate incident in
which she served as an illegal conduit for a $10,000 contribution
to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.  The criminal
informations were filed pursuant to negotiated plea agreements. 

     During the period covered by the scheme, Nora Lum was the
majority shareholder, Chairperson, and Chief Executive Officer of
Dynamic Energy Resources, Inc. ("Dynamic Energy"), a natural gas
pipeline company in Oklahoma; Gene Lum was a Director of Dynamic
Energy.  At the time that Trisha Lum made her illegal
contribution, she was an employee of the United States Department
of Commerce.  

     The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) limits the amount
of money which a person can contribute to a federal candidate in
an election.  The FECA also prohibits contributions to such
candidates from a corporation, and prohibits a contributor from
giving money to a federal election campaign in the name of
another person.  As described in papers filed by the United
States, in order to evade the FECA's limits and prohibitions Nora
and Gene Lum arranged for numerous conduit or "straw"
contributors to give money to the Kennedy and Price campaigns
using funds which the Lums provided from themselves or from
Dynamic Energy.

     The scheme constituted a conspiracy to defraud the United
States by impairing, impeding, and defeating the lawful functions
and duties of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), and to cause
false statements to be submitted to the FEC.  Separately, Trisha
Lum was charged with knowingly permitting her name to be used in
connection with a $10,000 contribution to the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee, in violation of the FECA.  The
funds used to make this contribution came from Nora Lum.

     The conspiracy to which Nora and Gene Lum agreed to plead
guilty carries maximum penalties of five years of imprisonment
and a $250,000 fine.  The violation to which Trisha Lum agreed to
plead guilty carries a maximum penalty of one year of
imprisonment and a fine of up to $30,000.

     These cases against the Lums were investigated by the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Raymond N.
Hulser and Jonathan Biran of the Department of Justice's Public
Integrity Section, Criminal Division.  The investigation was
begun by the Office of Independent Counsel Daniel S. Pearson and
transferred by Independent Counsel Pearson to the Public
Integrity Section in May 1996, following the death of Secretary
of Commerce Ronald H. Brown.  These cases subsequently became
part of the continuing investigation being conducted by the
Criminal Division's Campaign Financing Task Force, under the
direction of the Public Integrity Section, into a wide range of
matters arising from campaign fund-raising activity during the
1992-96 federal election cycles. 

     The Justice Department's Criminal Division continues to
investigate matters transferred to it by Independent Counsel
Pearson.

     Copies of the plea agreements, the factual basis for the
pleas, and the informations are available for messenger pick-up
at the Office of Public Affairs.
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