The jury saw two single-page printouts. One showed a $250,000 transfer; the other showed a $50,000 transfer. Prosecutors had meant to include the records tracing where that money went. Those pages didn’t make it into the trial record. When Timothy Durham appealed, the judges could see the rest of the exhibits. The jury that convicted him hadn’t. [4]
The Seventh Circuit reversed two wire fraud counts on that basis in 2014. Durham’s other convictions stood. To see what those missing pages changed, it helps to see what the rest of the prosecution had established about the company that issued the investors’ certificates. [1] [4]
What was behind the certificates
Fair Finance operated in Akron, Ohio. It raised money by selling certificates and owed investors principal and interest. Around the time Durham and James Cochran took over, Fair reported about $37 million owed to investors and roughly $48 million in income-producing receivables. In November 2009 it owed investors more than $200 million. The assets that were supposed to bring in money had become loans to the owners, their associates and businesses they controlled, according to the trial evidence summarized by prosecutors. [1]
In 2005 and 2006 independent accountants raised questions about loans that were impaired or lacked adequate security. The company ended its relationship with the accountants. Fair issued no audited financial statements for 2005 and didn’t obtain or issue them for the following years through September 2009. Investors who asked about delays still received assurances. Employees were told to hold back payments while money continued to go to insiders. [1]
A director who was under investigation in another matter told the FBI about Fair. Agents obtained a wiretap and seized Fair’s computer servers on November 24, 2009. The company closed, and bankruptcy followed. A later court opinion described roughly 5,000 investors, many older people of modest means, and losses of more than $200 million. [3] [4]
The counts the missing pages cost
A jury convicted Durham, Cochran and chief financial officer Rick Snow in 2012. Durham received a 50-year prison sentence, Cochran 25 years and Snow ten. The court ordered approximately $208 million in restitution. The order recorded what was owed; it didn’t mean the money had been found. [1]
For the two counts Durham successfully appealed, the first pages established that the transfers happened. The additional pages could have told the jury where the money ended up. The court declined to infer from the broader fraud that every transfer between the businesses furthered it. It reversed those two counts and sent the case back. In June 2015, the district court imposed a 50-year sentence again. [2] [4]
The Seventh Circuit upheld a separate SEC civil judgment in 2020. In 2022, a federal judge denied Durham’s challenge to the performance of his criminal trial lawyers. The prison term had come out of the criminal case; the civil judgment concerned the SEC’s claims. [2] [3] [5]
For certificate holders, the gap had opened well before trial. They still had paper telling them what Fair owed. By the time agents took the servers, that paper was backed by a very different set of loans from the ones Fair had started with. [1] [4]
Case brief
Indianapolis; Ohio investors · 2005–2009
- Recorded outcome
- Convicted in 2012; two wire-fraud counts reversed on appeal; resentenced to the same 50-year term in 2015; related SEC judgment affirmed in 2020.
Key moments
People in this case
- Timothy Durham
Convicted in the Fair Finance fraud
Photo at source · Indianapolis Business Journal · Associated Press photograph
Look closer · 3 visuals
Inside the evidence.
Open a visual to explore what it contributed to the case—and the limits of what it shows. These original illustrations explain the record; they are not photographs of the actual evidence.
The financial picture sold to investors
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
Records and testimony documented the use of investor money and the handling of accounting concerns.
Generic ledger, not an authentic exhibit or a present-day recovery statement.
The missing exhibit pages
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The trial record showed two transfers but lacked supporting documents establishing their use in the fraud.
This illustrates a failure of proof on reversed counts, not additional proof of guilt.
The investigation reaches the phones
Original editorial illustration — not an actual evidence photograph or exhibit.
Read the evidence notes
The appellate record describes the investigation and the challenge to the wiretap application.
No original recording or fabricated dialogue. The court upheld the challenged authorization.
★ Key evidence used in a conviction · ✓ Exclusion or reversal · ◇ Disputed evidence · ⊘ Excluded at retrial · ◆ Identity / investigative finding, not a conviction. A symbol does not mean one item proved the whole case.
Follow the locations
Put the story on the map.
Follow the dated entries, then select an event to find its regional setting. Shared-location pins open a group of events. Evidence symbols identify important findings and their limitations.
Open the map in its own window ↗Sources & further reading
- Former Fair Financial Company CEO Sentenced to 50 YearsTrial evidence, investor losses, company acquisition, diverted loans, accountants, original convictions and sentences.
- U.S. v. Durham, Cochran and Snow: Case UpdatesJune 26, 2015 resentencing to 50 years after reversal of two counts.
- SEC v. Durham, Seventh Circuit No. 19-1653Criminal appeal background, investors and affirmance of separate SEC civil judgment.
- United States v. Durham, Seventh Circuit criminal appealMissing trial exhibits, reversal of two counts, wiretap and server seizure.
- Durham v. United States: order denying collateral reliefThe district court denied Durham’s challenge to his trial counsel’s performance after an evidentiary hearing.
Editorial review: 2026-11-12 · 527 words