IBJNews

Bosma to return $10,000 Durham donation

Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

Speaker of the House Brian Bosma agreed on Friday to return to Fair Finance Co. the $10,000 contribution he received from the company’s indicted CEO, Tim Durham, according to the company’s bankruptcy trustee.

The development came two days after Trustee Brian Bash sued Bosma’s campaign committee and four other GOP campaign committees seeking to recover $138,580 in political donations that accused Ponzi schemer Tim Durham made since 2006.

“We are thankful he did the right thing,” said David Proano, an attorney for Bash, said of Bosma.

The other four suits remain pending. Bash is seeking the largest sum—$50,000—from the Greater Indianapolis Republican Finance Committee. In all the cases, Bash argues that Fair is entitled to recover the money because at the time Durham made the donations he owed millions of dollars to Fair and its parent companies. By the end of 2005, at the latest, Fair operated as a Ponzi scheme and was insolvent by more than $50 million, according to the lawsuits.

“Durham made the payment to defendant with actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud Fair Finance and its parent companies,” according to the suits.

The other suits seek $40,000 from the committee for Lawrence Mayor Paul Ricketts, $33,580 from the House Republican Campaign Committee and $5,000 from the Marion County Republican Central Committee.

Before his financial empire collapsed in 2009, Durham was a huge funder of Republican political candidates. The trustee hasn’t filed suits against the biggest recipients of Durham’s political largesse—campaign committees associated with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi. Both candidates received about $200,000 from Durham.

In an e-mail Friday afternoon, Brizzi suggested a settlement was in the offing. "We are working with the trustee toward a mutually agreeable resolution," he said.

Proano added: “We are in good faith discussions and making progress toward a settlement.”

He would not discuss Daniels. In a written statement last month, Bash said Daniels at least had responded to the trustee’s request that he return campaign contributions, unlike most others, and the trustee hoped “for mutual resolution through continued discussions.”

A spokeswoman for Daniels did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

Paul Okeson, treasurer for the Greater Indianapolis Republican Finance Committee, said: “We are in receipt of notice of the suit. We will consider all options. We intend to be cooperative in those discussions to figure out the best outcome.”

For more than a year, Bash has been trying to recover money for Fair investors—Ohio residents who purchased unsecured investment certificates with interest rates as high as 9.5 percent. He alleges Durham “utterly looted” Fair after buying it in 2002, stripping the business of the financial wherewithal to repay more than 5,000 investors who are owed more than $200 million.

In the statement, he praised Indiana Sen. Mike Delph for recently returning $10,000 and implored fellow elected officials to follow suit.

Last month, Marion County Republican Party Chairman Kyle Walker expressed sympathy for victims of Fair Finance’s collapse but said Durham’s contributions to the party have “long since been spent in good faith.”

Most of Durham's political contributions went to Republicans, but former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson collected $2,000, and former U.S. Rep. Baron Hill received $5,000. Adam Kisch, spokesman for the Marion County Democratic Party, said he did not know whether the men, both Democrats, had returned the contributions.

Durham and two business partners, James Cochran and Rick Snow, were arrested March 16 after being indicted on 12 felony counts, including conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud.



 

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Money
    Hey, I just remembered. Tim walked around town claiming for years that his personal wealth was 75 to 100 million dollars. I see he only personally owes around 40 million. Shouldn't be any problem to pay it back because allegedly he'd still have 35-60 million leftover! Tim is no liar, he'll just give the money back he owes, he's good for it! HA. What a circus, can't wait to see who the FBI arrests next!
  • re
    wrongo....there weren't loans, those were purported loans that appear to be backdated on the eve of the FBI raid...HELLO....if those "loans" were real then explain why Durham mortgaged all those assets post receipt of Fair money without mentioning to the banks and mortgage companies where the funds came from?

    But, your comment is exactly what defense he plans to use...the problem you have is you don't understand you cannot help yourself to client monies, violate Ohio state laws which require truthful disclosure and by the way take a single dollar over state lines without violating the intrastate exemption.

    Timmy is going to prison. And all of his mooch friends deserve to be as well.
  • This whole thing is over blown
    Tim Durham and his 2 partners are basically guilty of borrowing more than they could afford...kinda like a lot of Americans who put to much on credits cards and get bigger houses than they could afford. Durham is guilty of mismanagement and skating the moral line and this whole thing really needs to be a civil issue..not an issue of him facing the rest of his life in an ohio state prison!
    • Typical
      Mitch Daniels shows his true colors...

    Post a comment to this story

    COMMENTS POLICY
    We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
     
    You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
     
    Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
     
    No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
     
    We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
     

    Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

    Sponsored by
    ADVERTISEMENT

    facebook - twitter on Facebook & Twitter

    Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ on Facebook:
    Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ's Tweets on these topics:
     
    Subscribe to IBJ
    1. The Fringe! Plus, the simple fact that there are so many local faves in such close proximity to each other.

    2. I remenber, watching the toll road, being built, through South Bend, when I was 10 years old. I believe, back then that it was estimated, that the toll road, would be paid for in 20 years and then it would be free. I am now 71, what happened? Since the power is in the people, by that, I mean that, we the people are in total control of everything. I, suggest that no one ever use the toll road again, let it go broke. We the people can control the price of everything, from groceries to gas, if we would just do it. If we don't pay the asking price, the sellers will lower the price and if we wait awhile, they will lower the price to what we accept as reasonable. I would like to know why a highway like interstate 94, is so well maintained, a much better highway, than the toll road, but has no tolls. I would also like to know why, a sitting governor, with a term limit, maximum of eight years, can lease, public property, for 75 years. Even though I have transponders in both of my trucks and will not be affected by the increase, I have been and will contine to avoid using the toll road. I make many trips from northern Indiana to Chicago, every year, and I prefer the better highway, I94!

    3. Coming from her background,she should be used to those kinds of advances! Menard probably figured it was ok to tuck a buck!

    4. I'm still waiting for the list of available, high quality apartments in the Village.

    5. This criminal masquerading as a lawyer obviously has serious issues. He’s been proven by his own testimony to be a pathological liar and probably has a personality disorder as he seems to be constructing a reality around himself. He places no value on truth, honesty or loyalty as evidenced by what he has done to his clients and his own family. And by the demands and lies he has made in court, it is evident he feels entitled to do and say whatever suits his purpose and everyone else is expected to nod obediently and believe him because he is, after all, Bill Super Lawyer; or BS lawyer for short. This millionaire wanna-be no longer owns anything of value; he squandered it and put everything he had into foreclosure. He has no money, house, car, boat or vacation home left to show for what he earned or what he stole. He’s just another loser without morals who will be doing time. I’m certain all of his courtroom shenanigans are antagonizing his poor victims. As Lamar said, his behavior and claims in court have been outrageous. The judge needs to be more than concerned; he needs to be judicial and end this nonsense.

    ADVERTISEMENT