Officials: Fair Finance largest fraud case in state’s history
Timothy S. Durham (pictured at far left), James F. Cochran and Rick D. Snow were all arrested on Wednesday following a grand jury indictment.
Timothy S. Durham (pictured at far left), James F. Cochran and Rick D. Snow were all arrested on Wednesday following a grand jury indictment.
Beleaguered local businessman Tim Durham and two other executives tied to bankrupt Fair Finance Co. have been indicted on felony charges of wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a complaint against the men in federal court.
Emails filed as exhibits in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy case of Fair Finance Co. this month strongly suggest company insiders knew years before Fair collapsed that it was in dire straits.
For the past decade, Indianapolis-based professional speaker Scott McKain has used his experience at Obsidian Enterprise Inc. as the centerpiece of his marketing pitch, but Obsidian is not the success his bio advertises it to be.
Fair Finance Co.’s bankruptcy trustee is getting inquiries from parties interested in buying National Lampoon Inc., the Los Angeles-based comedy business led by embattled Indianapolis businessman Tim Durham.
E-mails filed in bankruptcy court this week show that Fair Finance Co. co-owner Jim Cochran spent money with such abandon that by 2008 he was living off credit cards and imploring CEO Tim Durham to more than double his salary to $1 million.
Fair Finance Co.’s bankruptcy trustee alleges Tim Durham perpetrated a fraud of "shocking proportions,” draining huge sums from the Akron, Ohio, firm for years to mask that his business empire had collapsed.
The loan from Fair Finance Co. to Stephen and Linda Plopper matured in 2006, but the couple has failed to satisfy the debt despite recent demands for payment, the suit alleges.
Trustee Brian Bash and his legal team have yet to publicly implicate anyone who appears to have the cash to substantially reduce the staggering losses.
A 1929 Duesenberg once driven by Elvis Presley garnered the largest price—$1.237 million.
Fair Finance Co.’s bankruptcy trustee scheduled the Friday auction to raise money for creditors of the defunct company, including more than 5,000 Ohio residents who hold more than $200 million in unsecured investment certificates.
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 agreement allows embattled financier Tim Durham to remain on the board of CLST Holdings, but mandates he step down as chairman and not vote on any matter unless doing so would make the board unanimous.
The FBI is asking land-line phone customers across the country to check their bills for phantom charges from more than 20 companies controlled by or connected to embattled financier Tim Durham.
Tim Durham says he’s ruined financially, but he’s not cutting corners lining up legal firepower to defend himself. Durham has hired famed criminal defense attorney Roy Black of Miami, lawyers representing the Indianapolis financier in civil litigation confirmed.
A Florida art dealer who successfully bid more than $260,000 on artwork that once belonged to Fair Finance Co. co-owner Timothy Durham says he canceled the sale. Now he and another big bidder from Philadelphia are being sued by Fair Finance bankruptcy trustee Brian Bash for nonpayment.
Saturday's art auction of work collected by Fair Finance co-owner Timothy Durham raised more than $400,000 — well above what the Akron company's bankruptcy trustee and even the auctioneer thought would be brought in.
The eclectic art collection of disgraced financier Tim Durham will hit the auction block Saturday in a sale that could help restore a small portion of the money lost by investors in Ohio's Fair Finance.
The bank says Durham stopped making the required $18,329 monthly payments on the 30-year mortgage this spring.
Tim Durham's partner in a failed Akron, Ohio, company says a trustee has nothing to back up his allegations of fraud.