By Jacqueline Palank
Timothy Durham, who is appealing his conviction on charges that he stole investor funds and blew them on classic cars, expensive homes, a private jet and country-club dues, now cites his own poverty as the reason he can?t afford the costs of that appeal.
?I am not able to pay an attorney for this appeal,? Durham wrote in a new federal court filing in his criminal case (h/t Associated Press). The former chief executive of National Lampoon and now-bankrupt Fair Finance Co. also swore in the filing that, ?because of my poverty,? he cannot pay the filing fees for his appeal.
Durham, who has been incarcerated since his June conviction, said he hasn?t earned any money in the past year. He was arrested in March 2011 on charges that he and colleagues pocketed the money of investors in Fair Finance, cheating them out of some $200 million.
According to the filing, Durham stopped receiving paychecks from National Lampoon in June 2011. (He previously grossed $16,660 per month.) His home is in foreclosure, he wrote, and all of his assets either are subject to criminal restitution or have been targeted by the bankruptcy trustee winding down Fair Finance.
Fair Finance sold interest-bearing certificates to investors and used the funds raised through those sales to buy consumer-finance contracts at a discount. According to prosecutors, Durham and two other executives, James F. Cochran and Rick D. Snow, pocketed investors? money and diverted it to companies under their control as well as into their own bank accounts. They lived the high life, accumulating multiple homes, a private jet, a yacht and several dozen classic and exotic cars.
Court papers show that Durham, 50 years old, was later found guilty of 12 counts of wire and securities fraud as well as conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud. On Nov. 30, he was ordered to pay $202.8 million in restitution and sentenced to 50 years imprisonment; Durham filed his appeal from Cell 240 in the federal prison in Leitchfield, Ky.
Snow, 49 years old, and Cochran, 57 years old, were each found guilty of some counts and not guilty of others, earning Snow a 10-year prison sentence and Cochran 25 years. Cochran is appealing his conviction.
Write to Jacqueline Palank at jacqueline.palank@dowjones.com.
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