Carolina Investors

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) _ The final executive convicted in the collapse of Carolina Investors is heading to prison to serve his five-year sentence nearly a decade after one of the biggest bankruptcies in South Carolina history. The South Carolina Supreme Court on Friday rejected Jack Sterling’s request to reconsider its February ruling upholding his securities fraud conviction. Sterling has been free on bond since being found guilty in 2009. Sterling’s lawyer, Billy Wilkins, said the 74-year-old executive still maintains his innocence, but accepts the decision. Authorities have not decided when he will be ordered to turn himself in. Prosecutors say about 12,000 people lost more than $275 million when Carolina Investors and its parent company HomeGold collapsed in 2003. Sterling was one of six executives of the two companies convicted in the scheme.