MOBERLY, Mo. (AP) - The former CEO of a failed artificial sweetener facility has been released from a Missouri jail after posting $10,000 bail while awaiting trial on theft and fraud charges.
Officials at the Randolph County jail say Bruce Cole was released after the cash bail was paid Monday. He faces one theft charge and four counts of securities fraud stemming from the financial collapse of a Mamtek U.S. facility in Moberly in 2011.
Moberly had issued $39 million in industrial development bonds to help finance the construction of the facility. Among other things, Cole is accused of diverting bond revenues to avoid foreclosure on a home in Beverly Hills, Calif.
He had been held on $500,000 bond until a judge reduced the amount last week.