Durham Ordered To Halfway House

Star photo of Durham's arrival at the federal courthouse today

In a surprising move, U.S. District Court Magistrate Kennard Foster ordered indicted Ponzi scheme operator Tim Durham to a halfway house in Downtown Indianapolis for the next seven days at his first appearance in an Indianapolis federal court after his indictment last month. He was earlier released after being taken into custody by federal marshals in Los Angeles after family members posted a $1 million bond for his release. Judge Foster indicated his dissatisfaction with a financial disclosure form Durham filed with the court prior to today's hearing. Durham, who was accompanied by Miami attorney Howard Srebnick with Roy Black's law firm, was ordered to provide "a full and complete disclosure" to the court within seven days. "What I saw was not sufficient," the Star's Jeff Swiatek quoted Foster as telling Durham's attorney.

UPDATE: An interesting sidebar noted in Swiatek's updated story in this morning's Star. "I'm surprised with the order," J. Richard Kiefer, an attorney for Obsidian Enterprises, one of Durham's companies, said in court. Kiefer is a partner at Bingham-McHale, the law firm at which U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett was also a partner before recently becoming the state's top federal prosecutor. The firm has been assisting Durham's business with the civil lawsuit the bankruptcy trustee has been pursuing to recover assets for the bilked investors of Fair Finance. Interesting that he would be participating in the criminal case as well.

UPDATE: The Star reports Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson turned down a request by Durham's attorneys to free him from the halfway house to which Magistrate Judge Kennard Foster ordered him to stay for the next 7 days until he provides a more complete financial disclosure form to the court. She also moved his trial back from May of this year to June, 2012. The prosecution anticipates the trial will last four weeks.