Philadelphia-based PalmStar Media has bought National Lampoon Inc., a deal that severs the final ties between the company and a contingent of Indianapolis shareholders, including convicted fraudster Tim Durham.
The company's bankruptcy trustee said in a court filing that it is "highly doubtful" Laikin would have the financial wherewithal to pay more than the settlement amount.
The ruling is a big setback for bankruptcy Trustee Brian Bash, who has yet to provide any recovery to the more than 5,000 Ohio residents who lost more than $200 million when the Tim Durham-led company collapsed in 2009.
The case stems from a line of credit the Indianapolis businessman received from Tim Durham's Fair Finance Co. Attorneys for the failed company said Laikin amassed tens of millions of dollars in debt he never repaid.
Lawsuits filed by BrightPoint Inc. shareholders who are challenging the company's proposed sale to a California firm are set to be dismissed after the sides reached a settlement.
The FBI had been investigating Tim Durham since March 2009, when his friend Dan Laikin, a Fair Finance board member, offered up incriminating information on the Indianapolis financier in hopes of securing a lighter sentence for himself in an unrelated case.
The case against Jeffrey and Dana Osler is the latest in what is expected to be a string of suits by the trustee against friends and business associates of Tim Durham who took out loans from Fair Finance but made few if any payments.
The sentence was short of the 60-month maximum Laikin could have received under a plea agreement worked out with federal prosecutors last fall.
The suit against Laikin, a longtime friend of Fair Finance CEO Tim Durham, is the first major legal move to untangle the morass
of related-party loans that propelled the company into insolvency.
Carmel businessman Dan Laikin pleaded guilty this afternoon to participating in a fraudulent scheme to pump up the stock price
of National Lampoon Inc., the Los Angeles-based entertainment company he led.
