21.   The brokerage could face further penalties for the gangster payoff scandal.

22.   The brokerage also faces penalties for the gangster payoff scandal.

23.   The French have a word for the distasteful five-ringed tangle of crudites that has evolved from the Salt Lake City payoff scandal.

24.   The new competitor comes as the traditional leaders in the domestic securities industry are reeling from payoff scandals to a corporate racketeer.

25.   The three said income from commissions on stock trading fell as investor confidence was shaken following a string of brokerage payoff scandals.

26.   When the IOC abruptly banned visits to bid cities last winter in the wake of the Salt Lake City payoff scandal, the Turinese figured they were doomed.

27.   Police have arrested an Italian businessman wanted in Belgium in connection with a political payoff scandal, officials said Thursday.

28.   A former top executive of Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank Ltd. pleaded guilty Wednesday to some charges in a major payoff scandal to a corporate racketeer.

29.   A Tokyo court sentenced a member of a rightist group to three months in prison Thursday in a payoff scandal involving a major Japanese food company.

30.   A widening payoff scandal also continued to discourage many investors.