Today former Mamtek CEO,
Bruce Cole, was released on bail from jail in Randolph County, Missouri pending
his trial on theft and securities fraud charges related to a failed artificial
sweetener facility in Moberly, Missouri.
Cole was released after a $10,000 bail was paid on a $100,000 bond.
The city of Moberly
issued $39 million in industrial development bonds to fund construction of a
sucralose plant that was to be operated by Cole’s company, Mamtek. Cole
allegedly misappropriated around $700,000 of that money and used investor funds
to avoid foreclosure of his Beverly Hills, California home. This allegation makes up part of the
securities fraud case against him. The
project was derailed when the first principal payment on the bond was
missed. Now the incomplete factory serves as a reminder of the 600 jobs
that never materialized, and a loss for investors all of the U.S.
The failed project made
headlines last year when Mamtek CEO Bruce Cole was charged with securities
fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). These charges are in
addition to the criminal charges Cole faces in Missouri.
