Four years after an FBI raid shut down Fair Finance, only a fraction of the more than $200 million that investors lost has been recovered.
In the past month, an additional $66,807.10 was recovered in the case, bringing the total to about $6.6 million, Trustee Brian Bash reported during a regular monthly status update hearing Tuesday at U.S. Bankruptcy Court in downtown Akron.
The end of November marked four years since FBI raids on Fair Finance’s offices in Akron and other parts of Northeast Ohio permanently shuttered the accounts receivables and consumer credit business.
Fair Finance, founded in 1934, was forced into bankruptcy in February 2010.
Thousands of Ohio investors were defrauded out of more than $200 million after Timothy Durham and James Cochran bought the longtime Akron finance business in 2002.
Durham and Cochran, along with former company executive Rick Snow, were convicted last year in Indianapolis on federal charges of defrauding investors. Durham was sentenced to 50 years in prison; Cochran, 25 years; and Snow, 10 years.
The three men are appealing their convictions.
The defrauded investors have yet to receive any recovered funds.
In his monthly report, Bash outlined the status of numerous lawsuits he has filed seeking to recover millions of dollars.
It’s unclear when the victims might get any of their money back from the financial scandal, said Kelly Burgan, a lawyer with Baker & Hostetler, who represents Bash.
“This isn’t a situation where we came in, we got an estate with a bunch of bank accounts with money in them,” she said. “Any money to be recovered in this case, any distributions that are to be made are going to be a result of litigation. When the litigation is complete, we’ll know what we have.”
Cheryl Powell can be reached at 330-996-3902 or cpowell@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow Powell on Twitter at twitter.com/abjcherylpowell.