CLEARWATER-A man who allegedly schemed investors from six states out of about $1.2 million was arrested Wednesday on a felony racketeering charge.

Robert Darren Carlson is accused of selling securities to 18 investors and depositing them into a bogus off-shore company called Trinity Savings Bank, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Carlson, 40, of Tampa, was arrested after already being out on bond from two other fraud charges.

A two-year investigation showed that Carlson offered and sold certificates of deposits from 1994 to 1999 to investors who thought their money was 100 percent insured, according to authorities.

Carlson allegedly used Evergreen National Resources, another one of his corporations, to facilitate the activities related to the Trinity bank, authorities said.

Investors believed that the bank was a credit union that had administrative offices in the Bahamas before they were relocated to Belize, authorities said.

Authorities are continuing their investigation into Carlson’s activities.

He was released from the Pinellas County Jail on Wednesday night after paying a $100,000 bond.

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