(Columbia-AP) Nov. 21, 2003 - Bond was set at $100,000 for the former president of Carolina Investors. Larry Owen was indicted on 23 counts, most of them specific security fraud charges involving the Pickens company, which, along with mortgage company HomeGold, closed in March and sought bankruptcy protection.

Owen, Carolina Investor's president until it closed, told Circuit Judge Thomas Cooper on Friday morning that he is not guilty and wants a jury trial. Defense attorney Bill Bannister asked Cooper to let Owen go free until his trial without putting up any money. Bannister says Owen has cooperated and is not a flight risk.

South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster said the 8000 investors who lost their money deserve justice, "The amount of money lost to investors is $275 million. Some have said it's the largest financial blow to the state since the Depression."

Prosecutor Sherri Lydon says the usual community ties that would keep someone from fleeing don't apply to Owen because investors are so angry. About 8000 South Carolinians invested money in the company, which says it owes $275 million.

His lawyer argued that Owen has been forthright with angry investors and was not a flight risk, "If he had any intention of fleeing the minute those doors closed he would have run out and been gone."

Owen, 60, of Easley was indicted Thursday by the state grand jury investigating the collapse of Carolina Investors. The Greenville News newspaper says Owen faces a maximum penalty of 206 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines if he is convicted.

The state grand jury proceedings will not win investors their money back, and McMaster says the goal is justice. On Wednesday, however, officials said the sale of Carolina Investors's assets is bringing in more money than expected, nearly $25 million so far. Bankruptcy trustee Ralph McCullough says those who lost money could get their first checks by spring.

Investors like Reverend Joe Trotter, a retired Baptist minister, felt safe, in the final days before Carolina Investors shut their doors, "I felt wonderful. I said, 'Boy, we're sitting good now.'"

It's little comfort for Roselle Anderson, who told the court, "This means I'll have to call on my children where I was going to use this money to live just a meager life."

Rev. Trotter says it's been a horrific experience, "The Lord only knows how I felt. You have to go through the experience. I'd rather die than go through an experience like that."

A bankruptcy examiner says Carolina Investors accountants misled investors with inaccurate information. The examiner also says lawyers for the collapsed company breached financial duties to them.

Examiner William Perkins released a report Wednesday that criticized the Wyche, Burgess, Freeman and Parham law firm and the Elliott Davis accounting firm. Both firms dismissed the findings.

Perkins' 95-page report says the company's accountants did not give appropriate advice, allowing misleading and inadequate information to be reported. The report says accountants knew HomeGold's financial losses put Carolina Investors customers at risk.

McMaster would not say whether others are under investigation and would face charges, but he says the case is far from over.

Reporting by Megan Hughes
Updated 6:16pm by Chris Rees