United States Securities and Exchange Commission

Boston, Massachusetts

Litigation Rel. No. 17514 / May 13, 2002

Court Issues Preliminary Injunction and Asset Freeze Against New York
Businessman Martin Fife, Former Broker Dennis Herula, Rhode Island Attorney
Mary Lee Capalbo and Others in Connection with Fraudulent Offering Scheme

   The Commission announced that, on May 8, 2002, the U.S. District Court
   for the District of Rhode Island issued a written order imposing
   preliminary injunctions and asset freezes against Martin D. Fife, a
   former Dreyfus fund independent director, Dennis Herula, a former
   Raymond James broker, Mary Lee Capalbo, a Rhode Island attorney, and
   others in connection with a fraudulent scheme that raised at least $52
   million from investors between 1999 and 2001. The court had previously
   entered temporary restraining orders and asset freezes on April 3,
   2002 against the same defendants in connection with this conduct.

   The Commission alleged in its complaint, filed April 1, 2002, that
   British citizen Michael Clarke and others promised investors
   exorbitant returns (such as a nearly 300% return in twelve banking
   days) through a high yield trading program purportedly operated by
   Fife under various names, including Brite Business and Seaview
   Development and Holdings, Ltd. According to the Commission's
   complaint, these representations were false because such high yield
   trading programs do not exist. The complaint alleges that Fife, who
   until recently served as an independent director of several Dreyfus
   mutual funds, purportedly ran the Brite Business trading program,
   which he described as a "credit enhancement" or "balance sheet
   enhancement" program. The complaint further alleges that, between 1999
   and 2001, Clarke and Fife misappropriated, transferred or lost
   approximately $13 million in investor funds. The Commission does not
   allege that anyone at Dreyfus knew of or participated in the
   fraudulent scheme. According to the Commission's complaint, most of
   the Brite Business investor funds were maintained in a brokerage
   account in Rhode Island at Raymond James Financial Services, Inc. The
   complaint alleges that Dennis Herula, the registered representative
   for the Brite Business account, and his wife, Rhode Island attorney
   Mary Lee Capalbo, played integral roles in the fraudulent scheme and
   also misappropriated approximately $8 million in investor funds.
   According to the complaint, Herula and Capalbo have both made false
   statements or provided forged account statements to investors within
   the past several months.

   The complaint alleges that several other individuals participated in
   the fraudulent scheme. The complaint further alleges that Charles