(Repub) Financier ran Ponzi scheme, feds say

Federal authorities are accusing high-flying Indianapolis businessman Timothy S. Durham of defrauding investors through a classic Ponzi scheme and are taking steps to seize his Geist mansion, three other properties in Indiana and California, 18 bank accounts and a Bugatti touring car.

The U.S. attorney's office in Indianapolis has filed a 10-page civil complaint in U.S. District Court, seeking a forfeiture of Durham's property. Durham owns a house in Fortville. He also owns two properties in Henry County and Los Angeles.

The filing accuses Durham and his associates at Fair Financial, a finance company based in Akron, Ohio, of convincing people to buy investment certificates, telling them the money would be invested in low-risk, high-yield short-term consumer debt.

"In fact, that money was not invested in the types of investments represented to the investors," the filing said. "Instead, the money provided by victims of the scheme was used to make interest and redemption payments to earlier victims of the scheme, thereby lulling the earlier victims into believing that their money was being (invested) responsibly, and enticing new investors into the scheme in order to fund payments to the earlier investors."

http://www.indystar.com/article/20091129/BUSINESS/911290383/Financier-ran-Ponzi-scheme-feds-say

--this is going to have major political implications in Indiana. Durham was a big funder of Republican political candidates, including Gov. Mitch Daniels. But the guy in the crosshairs is Durham's pal, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, who got $160k in funding from Durham.