WKSU News: Bankruptcy trustee says Akron-based Fair Finance was looted by its owners in just seven years

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 Bankruptcy trustee says Akron-based Fair Finance was looted by its owners in just seven years Files to try to recover $19 million and hints at more to come by WKSU's M.L. SCHULTZE	Web Editor M.L. Schultze

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Akron-based Fair Finance was a "cash cow" that a group of Indiana businessmen looted. That's among the claims a bankruptcy trustee is making in his effort to recover at least some of the many millions of dollars that have disappeared. WKSU's M.L. Schultze has more.

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Timothy Durham bought Fair Finance in 2002. Within months, it was making multi-million dollar loans to insiders.

And how secure were those loans?

Not very.

Fair Finance is a small consumer loan company that’s been around since the Depression. It’s been shuttered since November, when FBI agents raided it.

In February, it went into bankruptcy. And the court appointed Brian Bash as Fair Finance’s trustee last month. In his first lawsuit since then, he claims that Daniel Laikin got a $19 million loan from Fair Finance in 2002, with shaky collateral and no regular repayments.

And given that Laikin has been convicted of stock manipulation while he was head of National Lampoon, Bash wants to put a clamp on what collateral Laikin did post – a set of Hollywood properties.

Laikin was part of the close circle around the Indianapolis businessman Timothy Durham, who billed himself as one of the richest men in the world.

If he was, the suit suggests where some of that money came from. When Durham bought Fair Finance, the company “was a strong, viable, reputable company.”

By 2009, it “had been utterly looted.”

Listener Comments:

If the Government had proven that this was a ponzi scheme, then all investors would be protected under the SIPC, which protects investors up to $500,000 if they lose money in securities because of fraud. The investments were considered securities and the maximum one could invest was $200,000. That means every investor should get 100% of their money back. One only wonders why did the government back out of pursuing charges against Fair Finance.

Posted by: pete (ohio) on April 30, 2010 5:20PM

The Fair Finance 200M PLUS dollars seem to be
spreading to many parts of the country. Involing
owners and board of directors. I hope that Fair Finance, Trustee Brian Bash reclaims as many of the investors assets possible.Also important in the investagation to secure supstantial evidence for ciminal charges for conviction and prison time.

Posted by: Frank D. Maggio (Wadsworth, Oh. 44281) on April 19, 2010 1:40PM

People should be asking why US Attorney Tim Morrison dropped a claim to assets alleging a ponzi scheme.

I think one reason for the lazy response by Ohio and US regulators is Tim Durham did not live in Ohio.

www.fairfinanceinvestors.com

Posted by: Erich Riesenberg on April 15, 2010 10:06AM

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