Guyer settled $400,000 in Durham debts for just $35,000

The finances of Indianapolis doctor Dale Guyer are in such a poor state that a bankruptcy trustee early this year agreed to accept a mere $35,000 from him to settle more than $400,000 in debts owed to affiliates of convicted Ponzi schemer Tim Durham.

Court records say that Guyer—who was thrust into the headlines this week after an Al Jazeera report suggested his Indianapolis anti-aging clinic, The Guyer Institute, provided human growth hormone to Peyton Manning—befriended Durham after meeting him in 2000 and by 2003 was relying on him for financial support.
 

The money went to a variety of purposes, including purchasing medical equipment and paying off bank debts. Durham provided “infusions” in piecemeal fashion through “handshake deals” that were eventually memorialized in writing but not repaid, according to the bankruptcy trustee for Fair Finance Co., the Durham company whose collapse in 2009 cost more than 5,000 Ohio investors $200 million.
 

Durham, who is serving a 50-year prison sentence, drained tens of millions from Fair to support his lavish lifestyle, prop up his other failing businesses and for other purposes. Investigators alleged recipients of Fair loans that went unpaid included a diverse group of Durham friends, including Guyer, the rapper Ludacris, former Playboy playmate Jamie Ferrell and former O.J. Simpson confidant Kato Kaelin.

Fair’s bankruptcy trustee, Brian Bash, sued Guyer in June 2014 after collection efforts failed. In January, Bash agreed to accept just $35,000, court records show, which Guyer is scheduled to pay in installments through June 2016.

Bash said in court documents he agreed to the deal because he had reviewed Guyer’s personal financial statements, which indicated he lacked the ability to pay the full amount.

In addition, he said, pressing forward with the lawsuit would have involved “significant fees and costs,” in part because Guyer was asserting he previously repaid the debts. While Bash contended that was not correct, proving so would have made trying the case more complex.

“The trustee … believes the uncertainties and risks inherent in taking this matter to trial counsel in favor of settlement, particularly when considering the modest size of the recovery should the trustee prevail,” attorneys for Bash said in a court filing.
 

Guyer and his Guyer Institute on 86th Street have been the subject of intense media coverage since last Saturday, when an Al Jazeera report suggested Manning in 2011 received HGH that was mailed by The Guyer Institute to his wife, Ashley.

Manning has angrily denied the allegations.