Investors in the Durham-owned Fair Finance Co. are slated to receive an additional $5 million soon, boosting their recovery to $23 million—which works out to about 11 cents on the dollar for their $208 million in losses.
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.
An appeals court ruling has cleared the way for Fair Finance Co.'s bankruptcy trustee to revive a lawsuit against one of the company's lenders,a Fortune 500 company with extensive resources. The trustee was able to extract a $35 million settlement from another one of the company's lenders.
Dr. Dale Guyer—who was thrust into the spotlight this week after a news report suggested his Indianapolis clinic provided HGH to Peyton Manning—borrowed heavily from convicted Ponzi schemer Tim Durham, starting in 2003.
The $18 million payout to some 5,000 investors in Fair Finance Co. represents a recovery of about 9 cents on the dollar.
Convicted Ponzi scheme leader Tim Durham appeared in federal court in Indianapolis for a resentencing hearing Friday afternoon following the September dismissal of two fraud counts by the U.S. Court of Appeals.
When Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson sentenced Durham to 50 years in 2012, she said there was no point to handing down a sentence that was a multiple of his likely life span.
The deal would resolve a 2011 lawsuit accusing former Indianapolis businessman Tim Durham of using Fair Finance funds to prop up National Lampoon. He is a former CEO of both companies.
The bankruptcy trustee had accused Fortress Credit Corp. of turning a blind eye to Tim Durham's Ponzi scheme because it was making millions of dollars and held first liens on the only company assets with real value.
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 show, which airs at 10 p.m. Thursday, follows Durham’s path from his modest roots in Seymour, Indiana, through his quest to become the world’s richest businessman to his arrest and conviction for running a $200 million Ponzi scheme.
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.
An attorney for Rick Snow says the executive agreed to the deal because he lacked the money to fight the suit, not because he actually has the money.
In a new brief, the government insists it pursued wiretaps in late 2009 only after investigating the business using less-invasive techniques for 7-1/2 months.
The Cleveland law firm representing the bankruptcy Trustee Brian Bash is seeking approval for more than $11 million in fees.
Stephen Blaising said in a recent court filing that he will pay $125,000 to satisfy a lawsuit brought by the bankruptcy trustee representing investors in an Ohio company led by Tim Durham.
Attorneys for the Fair Finance trustee said Tim Durham's ex-wife, Joan SerVaas, has agreed to pay $100,000 and Bernard Durham, his adopted son, $10,000 to settle a lawsuit charging they accepted nearly $300,000 from the disgraced financier.
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.
A group of elite Indianapolis investors who cashed out before Tim Durham’s financial empire collapsed have reached a settlement with a bankruptcy trustee requiring them to give most of their money back.
Attorneys for Tim Durham and his co-defendants cast their clients’ convictions on a total of 25 felony counts as the result of a string of legal missteps, including bungled jury instructions, and giving investigators the right to conduct wiretaps without first demonstrating that “ordinary investigative techniques failed or were unlikely to succeed.”
