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ST. LOUIS (AP) - Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander is preparing to announce what he calls a "major securities action" that involves millions of dollars.

   Kander scheduled a news conference Thursday at the Old Post Office in St. Louis. His office says Kander will seek restitution, civil penalties and fees and costs, but no other details have been released.

   The secretary of state's office is Missouri's chief overseer and enforcer of securities laws intended to protect investors from unfair practices and fraudulent schemes.

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 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.

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 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.