National Lampoon Agrees To Pay Fair Finance Trustee $3 Million

The bankruptcy trustee for Fair Finance alleged that National Lampoon benefited from about $9 million in fraudulent transfers made from Fair Finance during the time Tim Durham and Dan Laikin controlled the entertainment company. Last week, the trustee filed paperwork indicating an agreement had been reached with National Lampoon's current management to repay $3 million to the bankrupt company. National Lampoon, which has filed its own lawsuit against Durham in the Southern District of Indiana, has agreed to make monthly payments to the trustee equal to 15% of the company's monthly gross income. Fortress Credit Corp., which loaned money to Durham and his partner, James Cochran, to acquire Fair Finance in 2002, recently agreed to pay $35 million to the trustee to settle claims asserted against it. That's the largest recovery to date of the more than $220 million the investors lost in the company.