Corporate & Securities Law

Fair Finance Faces Another Investor Lawsuit

By Mark Maddox

For the second time this month, Fair Finance and owner Tim Durham face a lawsuit filed on behalf of disgruntled investors. The most recent legal action involves a group of Wayne County residents, including Amish investors, who are suing Akron-based Fair Finance over allegations the company owes them nearly $2.2 million.

The first lawsuit against Fair Finance, Durham and other executives was filed Dec. 4 by the law firms of Maddox Hargett & Caruso P.C. and David P. Meyer & Associates, LPA. That lawsuit, which accuses Fair Finance?s owners of bilking investors out of millions of dollars by using company assets for their own enrichment, is seeking class action status.

As reported Dec. 22 by the Akron Beacon Journal, the latest lawsuit against Fair Finance was filed yesterday in Wayne County Common Pleas Court. Twenty members of the group behind the lawsuit created a limited liability company named Fair Recovery to protect their privacy. Twenty other plaintiffs, including two trusts, also are named.

Offices of Fair Finance have remained closed following a Nov. 24 FBI raid on the finance company and another business owned by Durham, Obsidian Enterprises.

Previous court records allege that federal investigators suspect Fair Finance of operating as a Ponzi scheme, using money from new purchasers of investment certificates to pay off earlier investors. Today, more than $200 million is outstanding.

Full post as published by Representing Investors on December 23, 2009 (boomark / email).