Tim Durham, the Indianapolis businessman who purchased Akron, Ohio-based Fair Finance Co. eight years ago, is facing up to
the reality he owes the company a bundle and is shoveling over assets. Nevertheless, the FBI seized some Durham vehicles on
June 24.
Beleaguered financier Tim Durham acknowledges owing millions to Fair Finance and is turning over artwork and selling assets
to reduce the loan, according
to an attorney overseeing the company’s bankruptcy.
The longtime accounting firm for Simon family interests objected to subpoenas it received from Melvin Simon’s daughter
Deborah, saying the information
requested was far too broad.
The recent chatter followed the bank board’s decision to award CEO Milton J. Miller II a severance agreement entitling him to extra pay in the event of a merger.
The financial underpinnings for the current quarterly dividend—45.5 cents per share—seem less than sturdy.
The going-private deal he worked out—with New York-based Alden Global Capital—could result in another public offering
five years from now.
Credit problems continue to bedevil banks big and small, many of them caused by soured commercial real estate loans.
High expectations already are baked into HHGregg Inc.’s stock price, which has doubled since last May. A disappointment could
spawn a sell-off.
Sardar Biglari, chairman and CEO of Biglari Holdings Inc., the Texas-based parent of Steak n Shake, rolled out a hedge-fund-style
compensation plan for himself late last month that could put staggering sums in his pocket.
The deal included a $296 million criminal fine, but no charges against executives who failed to properly report problems with the company's defibrillators.
State law normally requires board approval for buyouts. But the language cited in the letter of intent provides an exception
for conflicts of interest or special circumstances.
A big Emmis Communications Corp. shareholder believes the $90 million deal CEO Jeff Smulyan unveiled Monday morning to
take the company private is unlikely to get derailed—even though it’s worth far less than a takeover offer Smulyan
failed to get through his board four years ago.
Borrowers may not be able to refinance many of the more than $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate mortgages coming due
by the end of 2014.
Melvin Simon’s daughter Deborah is lashing out at her stepmother Bren in a new court filing, saying she was “mentally
and verbally abusive” toward the billionaire late in his life and kept him isolated from friends and family.
A home that fetched $1.6 million in 2005 fetched a mere $370,000 when the lender sold it last year.
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.
The troubles at U.S. Rubber Reclaiming demonstrate the challenges a bankruptcy trustee faces in trying to recover money for
investors.
Duke Realty is fighting a request to award an additional $9.7 million in attorneys' fees, calling the amount excessive.
Judge William J. Hughes ruled Deborah Simon failed to make her claim with “sufficient specificity.”
The embattled businessman was booked into the Hamilton County Jail following an incident Saturday morning at his Geist Reservoir
home.
