Tim Durham
| Tim Durham | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Timothy Shawn Durham, Sr. 1962 (age 54–55) Seymour, Indiana |
| Occupation | Attorney (disbarred), investor |
| Criminal charge | Wire fraud, securities fraud, conspiracy to defraud |
| Criminal penalty | 50 years in prison, two years' supervised release (overturned September 4, 2014; reinstated June 26, 2015) |
| Criminal status | Inmate #60452-112; incarcerated at United States Penitentiary, McCreary; McCreary County, Kentucky; earliest possible release January 12, 2056 |
| Spouse(s) | Joan SerVaas Durham |
| Children | Timothy Durham, Jr. |
| Conviction(s) | June 20, 2012 |
Timothy Shawn "Tim" Durham, Sr. (born 1962) is an American lawyer and financier convicted in 2012 of the largest white collar crime in Indiana history. His investment firm Obsidian Enterprises invested in a number of companies, including wireless device company BrightPoint and comedy brand National Lampoon, Incorporated, where Durham served as CEO. In 2012, Durham was sentenced to 50 years in prison in connection with a Ponzi scheme that defrauded 5,400 investors, many of them elderly, of approximately $216 million, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Durham grew up in Seymour, Indiana. He graduated from Indiana University and its law school. He worked for Ice Miller after graduation, and in 1989 he married Joan SerVaas. Their son Timothy Durham, Jr. (born 1990) attended University of Southern California.
Durham soon joined the investment firm owned by his wife's father, Indianapolis financier and longtime city council president Beurt SerVaas. Durham left the firm after his 1998 divorce. Durham was involved in taking over numerous ailing companies, including school bus manufacturer Carpenter, cargo trailer makers Danzer Industries and United Expressline, U.S. Rubber Reclaiming, and bus leasing firm Pyramid Coach.
In 2001, he took his company Obsidian public. The public company then invested in a range of companies, including a rally-car builder, a plastic surgery center, a car magazine, a tour bus operator, a limousine rental company, a nightclub, an Italian restaurant, and a cell-phone billing processor. Obsidian also invested in mobile device distributor BrightPoint and National Lampoon, Incorporated. From 2001 to 2006, Obsidian had cumulative losses of $30 million, according to the bankruptcy trustee. During that time Obsidian was borrowing heavily from Fair Finance Company, an Akron, Ohio-based creditor. Durham and accomplice James Cochran had acquired Fair Finance through a holding company in 2002. Durham appointed Dan Laikin as CEO of National Lampoon Inc. The SEC alleged Laikin conspired to inflate the company's stock price to $5 in order to prevent the company from being delisted from the . Laikin alerted authorities to Durham's financial schemes in hopes of getting a reduced sentence. Durham took over as Lampoon CEO after Laikin stepped down.
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