The bulk of embattled Indianapolis businessman Tim Durham’s exotic car collection sold at auction on Friday afternoon,
with his 1929 Duesenberg fetching the largest price—$1.237 million.
The Duesenberg Model J Dual Cowl Phaeton was driven Elvis Presley in the 1966 movie “Spinout." It was one of nearly
two dozen vehicles sold as part of an auction conducted by RM Auctions of Ontario, Canada, at the Arizona Biltmore Resort
& Spa in Phoenix.
Durham in 2006 with one of his cars. (Photo courtesy RM Auctions)The bankruptcy trustee for Fair Finance Co. put the cars up for auction to raise money for creditors of the defunct company, including more than 5,000 Ohio residents who hold more than $200 million in unsecured investment certificates.
The Durham vehicles collectively fetched about $2.2 million, likely leaving about $1 million for the trustee after expenses and a bank lien is paid off, said Kelly Burgan, an attorney for trustee Brian Bash. The funds will help cover the cost of attorneys and other professionals who've been filing lawsuits and taking other steps in an attempt to recover assets for creditors. Professionals have not applied for fees or expenses since the case began early last year.
Akron, Ohio-based Fair collapsed in late 2009. The trustee charges in court papers that its owners, Durham and fellow Indianapolis
businessman Jim Cochran, “utterly looted” the business, pulling out tens of millions of dollars in insider loans
that were not repaid.
Other Durham cars in the auction included a1929 Auburn 8-90 Speedster, a 2002 Lamborghini Murcielago, a 2006 Bentley Continental
Flying Spur and a 2003 Astin Martin Vanquish.
Durham, who is the target of civil and criminal investigations, has denied breaking any laws but has acknowledged he owes
Fair millions of dollars. He voluntarily turned over the cars to bankruptcy trustee Brian Bash last summer.
Attorneys for Durham say offering circulars that Fair provided to prospective purchasers disclosed the insider loans and
other risks.
However, investigators are trying to build a case that Durham duped investors. In a court filing in late 2009, the U.S. Attorney’s
Office in Indianapolis alleged Durham was operating a Ponzi scheme, using money from the sale of new investment certificates
to pay off prior purchasers.
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The lawyers did not do this. A million bucks in legal fees is well-earned by them. At the end of the day even $2 million in legal fees is not material to the $220,000,000 Durham and Cochran looted from us.
If I had any clue that none of their cmpanies were profitable and they didn't have enough revenue to support even a semblence of the debt I would never have put a dime into these certificates. Please show me in the offering circulars where either of them admit they were doing what they really did with our money. What Amish or Mennonite person do you know would allow hundreds of thousands of dollars of his or her money to be GIVEN to Mitch Daniels and that local prosecutor fellow Carlito Brizzi? None I know.
Since we will never see our money again it is important to ensure this type of crime is not committed again by these hooligans. I applaud the Indianapolis Business Journal for continuing to report so that others don't fall prey to these criminals like we did.
Tim didn't invest in lots of different companies. Heck, he could have bought stock in any index, or Goog, or half of the US stock market and and etched out a return and been rich. But, no, he handed and gave money to friends and politicians so he could feel important and have a gang of friends. What companies did he invest in?
Let's examine them. He took a seller note for Classic--stiffed the sellers. No money went into the company despite what he claims happened. Ask the sellers if you don't believe me, they are back running the company, and by the way have filed their judgments exceeding $1M against him both in Hamilton County and LA.
United Trailers had gross revenues of what?
US Rubber REclaiming had gross revenues of what? IT is such an unprofitable company the only bid for it after foreclosure was $200,i00. Classic and United were both liquidated because they were insolvent.
Insolvent means you do not make a profit to pay your bills.
Pyramid Coach? Closed 3 years ago after the death of gospel singer Dottie Rambo. Like everything else no money was put into the company and the buses were poorly maintained. Tim was so asleep at the wheel he had a massive embezzlement there, or so he claims, for which no one was prosecuted and no mention of this was disclosed to the Ohio Dept of Securities or investors at the time.
Danzer? Closed and liquidated over 5 years ago.
So, what are these businesses Tim invested in? Let's seeâ?¦.he handed over $19,000,000 to Dan Laikin. For free. No interest or principle payments back. Oops, that's right, Tim bought stock in Brightpoint and Cellstar, right before Brightpoint bought them, and Red Rock Pictures and National Lampoon.
YOu recall Dan was arrested for boiler rooming Red Rock and National Lampoon. Did I mention Carl Brizzi accumulated what is reported to be 1,000,000 of Red Rock? And 6 digits of Cellstar stock?
Isn't this fine.
What else did Tim invest in? I don't see it. How come none of his friends like Henri Najem and Dan and Jackie Laikin, or his sister Dana Osler and her hubby Jeff ever had to make their payments back to Fair?
How come no UCC recordings were ever filed by Tim to secure the assets associated with these purported "loans?"
You know so much, so how about you tell us the answers.
Two guys got together and bought this finance company. We don't know if their intentions were good or bad, but they proceeded to invest in a lot of companies. Some of these companies belonged to friends and family. At some point their egos got very big and they thought they could do anything they wanted. They started taking huge sums out for themselves and led lewd and lavish lifestyles that a lot of people were envious of. Obviously by the posts here, Tim Durham pissed off a lot of people because Jim Cochran is barely mentioned. In fact, Indianapolis has turned into a lynch mob. He was a big fish in a small pond. The rest of the country (besides rural Ohio) could care less. Now here is my point. In a perfect world, the Ohio regulators would have figured this out long before this much money was invested. If not, they at the very least would not have gone for another round being approved. At that point it should have been quietly investigated instead of causing an immediate panic. Appropriate actions should have been taken and a slightly more helpful resolution occurred (not that much of anything could help, but it would be better). Instead, everything turned into publicity. From the moment of the raid, the FBI and the trustee have been all about the publicity. They know they are not helping the investors. The public is now "happy" that all these poor people lost their money so they can watch someone they hate and are jealous of fall. That is what the IBJ is. It stands for I Be Jealous. I just don't think what they are writing is really news. I think these people are not the ones anyone cares about. They care about watching people fall. I am more concerned about the victims. To add insult to injury, they are being given false hope that someone cares. The IBJ, the FBI, and the trustee are fueling the frenzy and they are screwing these people just as badly. Do you really think the trustee is collecting any money that is not going to legal fees? It is just like a class action suit. When is the last time the investors got money from a class action suit? I am not defending anyone here. I am just saying it is more of a statement about our society. These greedy lawyers and two bit journalists are trying to make these people think they are out to help them. In reality, they are just as greedy as the others. The worst part is that a lot of people seem to be happy about the situation. i would hope and pray that someone who truly cares about the investors could help them, but that is not the way our system works. Of course Greg Andrews didn't cause this, but he certainly hasn't helped. Over a year later, after all the publicity, no charges have been filed. This could have been handled MUCH better.
In the interim the trustee has not secured the millions of dollars in jewelry Tim bought with stolen money, the original Demi Moore Vanity Fair pregnancy photo Tim claims to have purchased and is listed on the insurance inventory, the dozens of cars that did not show up on the FBI seizure. the cash used to fund the current lease of $28k a monthâ?¦..so while we all post on here the fact is Tim continues living his lavish lifestyle, out of jail, with no arrest, while the lives of countless victims are ruined by his sheer greed and avarice.
Thank you, Tim Morrison, for making Tim's current lifestyle possible.
"Still, creditors, largely made up of an estimated 5,300 holders of Fair Finance investment certificates, should not expect to receive a distribution from the sale of the cars, said Kelly Burgan, legal counsel to trustee Brian Bash. The money likely will be used to fund the case, including reimbursing the professionals who have been working on the bankruptcy since Fair Finance was forced into filing Chapter 7 in February 2010."
Doesn't anyone see that the lawyers are scamming these poor people just as much as anyone else? They should be ashamed. All they do is put out publicity like "within a monthe everyone will know" to justify their existence. In truth, their existence is not justified or helping. They are the only ones that will get any money. If they are so concerned about the creditors, why don't they do it pro bono. Disgusting. Greg Andrews doesn't report this because he wants everyone to still believe that his investigating helped these people. In truth, he is probably the main reason they lost everything.