11:21 AM CST on Monday, November 29, 2004

St. Louis (AP) - The owner of a suburban St. Louis company is indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of defrauding wholesale suppliers of $2.5 million.

Jeffrey Polinsky of Chesterfield is accused in the 15-count indictment. If convicted, restitution would be mandatory to all victims.

Polinsky is a wholesale paper salesman and owns Alan Brian Incorporated of Chesterfield. The indictment alleges fraud related to purchases of paper, mostly copy paper, from bulk paper product suppliers.

The indictment alleges that Polinsky would order copy paper, then resell it to customers, often failing to pay his wholesale suppliers.