JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri judge has granted reduced bail for the former head of the failed Moberly sweetener plant.
Bruce Cole will need to post $10,000 in cash or secure a $100,000 bond to be released from the Randolph County jail. If released, he could return to his California home and remain under house arrest.
Cole, 65, was being held on a $500,000 bond on claims he perpetrated a massive fraud by persuading Moberly to issue $39 million in bonds to fund an artificial sweetener facility that collapsed financially before construction finished.
Cole faces one theft charge and four counts of securities fraud related to the industrial development bonds issued by Moberly.
The judge granted another motion Friday to reveal what deals the state made with witnesses testifying against Cole.
