NEWSMAKER: High-flying exec Durham ensnared in probe
The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged in court papers that one of his businesses, Ohio-based Fair Finance Co., operated as
a Ponzi scheme.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleged in court papers that one of his businesses, Ohio-based Fair Finance Co., operated as
a Ponzi scheme.
Daily newspapers on Thursday filed a motion seeking to unseal search warrant documents related to the federal investigation
of Indianapolis businessman Tim Durham and Akron, Ohio-based Fair Finance Co.
More than half of the venture capital fund’s original investors took a pass on its $58 million successor, the newly launched
INext.
One of the strongest messages the broad market is sending us today is that investors are looking for liquidity.
The new INext fund is the successor to the $73 million Indiana Future Fund, which the life science initiative raised in 2003.
Tim Durham’s Fair Finance Co. says it needs another 30 days to provide Ohio regulators with a mountain of documents
they requested relating to insider loans and other issues.
The statement says the company anticipates reopening its loan-collection arm, but offers no assurances to the Ohio investors
it owes.
A federal financial-disclosure statement Brizzi submitted in May lists the politician as an investor in Red Rock Pictures
Holdings Inc., a film-development firm also backed by Durham.
Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi is listed in a federal filing as an investor in Los Angeles-based Red Rock Pictures Holdings,
a company linked to embattled Indianapolis businessman Tim Durham.
Attorneys on Friday afternoon filed a class-action lawsuit seeking to rescind $200 million in investor purchases of Fair
Finance Co. securities and to slap Tim Durham and other company insiders with millions of dollars in punitive
damages.
Ohio securities regulators have asked for a mountain of additional information from Tim Durham’s Fair Finance Co. that
they say they would have to evaluate before deciding whether to allow the company to resume the sale of investment certificates.
The amount raised since October is in addition to the $69.9 million it received in May from three venture
firms on the coasts, in what was the third-largest venture deal in the nation during the second quarter,
according to the National Venture Capital Association.
Carl Brizzi’s short stint as a Fair Finance director reflects a larger pattern in Tim Durham’s business dealings.
The Innovate Indiana Fund will invest $5 million over the next five years to commercialize IU technologies and another
$5 million to help IU-affiliated startups get off the ground.
The Indiana Secretary of State’s securities division says Indiana State Teachers Association can’t account for $23 million
intended for
school districts, requests assets be frozen.
A Texas company acknowledged Tuesday that the SEC is investigating transactions between it and Tim Durham’s Fair Finance Co.
The federal government on Monday morning dropped a high-profile civil lawsuit seeking to seize Tim Durham’s assets after
receiving
assurance they wouldn’t vanish.
Fair Finance Co. remained closed Monday morning, adding to the anxiety of Ohioans who have purchased about $200 million of
the company’s investment certificates.
A survey shows wealthy investors are targeting real estate. But what about Indianapolis?
Any case federal prosecutors pursue against Tim Durham or his associates likely would revolve around what his Fair Finance
Co. disclosed—or didn’t disclose—to potential investors, legal observers said.