By Wendy Weinhold Anderson Independent-Mail
July 18, 2005

LAURENS - A new chapter could open in the investigation into Carolina Investors' failure after the company's former vice president, Anne Owen, pleaded guilty on Monday to securities fraud and agreed to cooperate with state prosecutors.

Attorney General Henry McMaster, who attended the hearing in Laurens County court, said Owen could help move forward the state's investigation into the failure of Carolina Investors and its parent company, HomeGold.

"We believe she has valuable information for our ongoing HomeGold investigation,"Attorney General McMaster said. "The end of this book will not be written until the last piece of evidence has been gathered and we bring all those responsible to justice."

Owen, 52, was released on bond until sentencing in October.

Owen was scheduled to go to trial in August on eight counts of misleading investors. She is the wife of former Carolina Investors president Larry Owen, who last July pleaded guilty to 22 counts of lying to investors and now is serving an eight-year prison sentence.

Defense attorney Jim Bannister said the offer of Owen's cooperation "gave us options we didn't have before," but he stopped short of saying it could spare her from serving jail time.

An estimated 12,000 people lost more than $275 million when the 40-year-old Pickens-based unsecured investment company failed in March of 2003.

A civil settlement is estimated to return 18 cents on the dollar to investors.

Owen did not have decision-making power or access to board meetings, but she was responsible for day-to-day interactions with investors. In the final days, she also sent daily reports on the company's cash flow to HomeGold.

Assistant Attorney General August G. "Tav" Swarat II said Owen's constant contact with executives at HomeGold could point prosecutors to additional evidence.

Former company chairman Earle E. Morris, a former lieutenant governor, the only company official tried in the company's collapse, is out on bail while he appeals his November conviction.

Attorney General McMaster said Morris has maintained his innocence and not provided information to the state.

Mr. Bannister said Owen "felt some responsibility to investors for not protecting them," and her guilty plea reflected her hope to get the state's investigation "back on track."

"Hopefully there can now be a rapid progression toward the architects of this," Mr. Bannister said. "I'll always be convinced (Larry Owen) and Anne and Earle got gobbled up by something bigger than they are."

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