COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The former chairman of bankrupt Carolina Investors plans to seek help from the company to pay his bail before his trial.

Earle Morris Jr. is scheduled to be in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Wednesday morning.

Morris also was supposed to appear Wednesday morning in state court to enter a plea to 24 charges of securities fraud. But that hearing has been indefinitely postponed because of the icy weather.

Morris will likely have to post bail or stay in jail until his trial. So Morris is asking Bankruptcy Court permission to pay his bail by using part of a $10 million insurance policy bought for him and other directors by Carolina Investors and its parent company, HomeGold.

Court-appointed trustee Ralph McCullough is now running the company and is fighting the request. McCullough also has sued Morris and other company officials.

Any money paid by the insurance policy to former company officials is money that will not be returned to HomeGold's creditors, McCullough said.

"We don't feel it's appropriate for the insurance policy to be used for this purpose," McCullough said.

Morris' lawyer, Joel Collins Jr., couldn't immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

Information from: The State