Durham follows magistrate’s order, moves from sister’s house

Indicted financier Tim Durham has complied with a federal magistrate’s wishes to move out of his sister’s house in Geist and is now staying at an undisclosed residence in the downtown Indianapolis area.

Durham had been living on home detention at his sister's house since shortly after his April arrest on 12 felony counts stemming from the collapse of Fair Finance Co., the Akron, Ohio, firm he's accused of looting.

In a sealed motion, he recently asked for permission to move back into his 20,000-square-foot Geist mansion. According to an objection filed by federal prosecutors, Durham made the request because his sister was concerned for her safety because of threats made against Durham.

But Magistrate Judge Kennard Foster noted on Aug. 19 that both his sister's house and his mansion were in foreclosure and that alone “is a good reason for Mr. Durham not to be there.” He said the Volunteers of America halfway house in Indianapolis where he lived for five days after his arrest would provide an environment that protected Durham's safety.

Durham’s lawyer, John Tompkins, persuaded Foster to give him 72 hours to work with the Probation Department on a new place for Durham to live. Under Foster's order, if Durham and the Probation Department hadn’t come up with a location within the 72 hours, Durham would have lived at the VOA.

“Yes, he has alternate housing,” Tompkins said on Wednesday. “The move has been uneventful and successfully completed.

A 23-page grand jury indictment alleges Durham and business partner James F. Cochran worked with former Fair Finance Chief Financial Officer Rick D. Snow to devise and execute a scheme to defraud Fair's investors.

Authorities say that after Durham bought Fair in 2002, he doled out related-party loans with abandon, leaving the company unable to repay Ohio residents who purchased unsecured investment certificates boasting interest rates as high as 9.5 percent. More than 5,200 investors are owed more than $230 million.

Durham, Cochran and Snow have denied wrongdoing.

More of IBJ's coverage of Durham and Fair Finance can be found here.