FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: James B. Ropp
Phone: (302) 577-8925
Date: February 13,2002
 

ATTORNEY GENERAL INDICTS WILMINGTON MAN SELLING FRAUDULENT UNREGISTERED SECURITIES

(Wilmington, DE) - Attorney General M. Jane Brady announced that on February 11, 2002
the New Castle County Grand Jury indicted Dennis N. Carlson, who sold investment and insurance products from his business, A Plus Financial Programs located at 2505 A Concord Pike, Wilmington, Delaware. Dennis N. Carlson was indicted on thirty-one counts of Sale of an Unregistered Security and one count of Sale of a Security by an Unregistered Agent. These charges carry a combined possible period of incarceration of sixty-four years, and a fine of up to $100,000 for each offense.

Between February 24, 1999 and April 5, 2000, fourteen investors, primarily elderly Delawareans, invested in excess of five hundred thousand dollars in unregistered securities, through Dennis Carlson, in the form of certificates of deposit, purportedly issued by the First International Bank of Grenada and preferred stock, purportedly issued by Wellington Capital Holdings Limited, Inc. of St. Georges Grenada, and other related entities. Some of the investors received a few initial payments on their investment, but the payments abruptly stopped. The investors principal has not been returned. The securities sold by Carlson were not registered, nor was Carlson registered to sell securities in Delaware.

At the time of the sale of these investment products to the fourteen victims, Dennis N. Carlson was subject to a cease and desist order issued July 16, 1998 by the Delaware Securities Division prohibiting him from selling unregistered securities in Delaware, and which also prohibited him from selling any securities in Delaware without being licensed to do so.

Investigators are searching for other potential crime victims. If anyone has information about the sale of investment products by Dennis N. Carlson, they should contact Securities Investigation and Examination Supervisor, Stanley J. Yackoski at (302) 577-8935.