The "Playboy of Indiana" episode featured tonight on CNBC's American Greed was pretty much what you would expect from a GE-produced media story--a complete whitewash of events from start to finish. Feed the sheeple what you want them to believe by covering up the real story behind Tim Durham's more than $200 million Ponzi scheme.
To buy the load of crock CNBC fed you tonight required a suspension of disbelief. Durham acted alone driven by raw greed we're told. Nowhere mentioned are the names of the politicians who curried his favor and helped protect him, in particular the corrupt former Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, who remains at large for his long-running crime spree, thanks in large part to the same law enforcement folks taking bows in tonight's broadcast. His stable of attorneys and accountants played no small part along the way as well.
The infamous Pajama Party was titillating to viewers, but what happened to that list of prominent politicians, civic and business leaders who enjoyed the entertainment of the working girls and boys? That was buried just like the video recordings made by the sophisticated surveillance system installed throughout Durham's palatial home, including the guest bedrooms, which come in handy when a little extra convincing is needed to get someone to do what you expect of them. Beurt SerVaas' introduction of the dirty world of using front companies to launder the CIA's ill-gotten proceeds to his former son-in-law and spreading the wealth around to a select few likewise got lost on the cutting room floor.
The illegal boiler room stock-pumping operation on Bright Point stock that made tens of millions for not only Durham but a large cast of Indianapolis' ruling elite who regularly engage in illegal stock trading with impunity was portrayed as a legitimate stock investment that helped launch Durham's meteoric business career. Please. The fact that Dan Laikin, the brother of Bright Point's CEO, wound up as CEO of Durham's National Lampoon and got caught engaging in the same illegal stock price manipulation got lost somewhere in production.
To believe the disingenuous FBI agent, federal law enforcement officials acted immediately based solely on the information it had been provided by Laikin on how Durham used Fair Finance like a Ponzi scheme to bankroll his lifestyle. The reality was that complaints of whistle blowers alerting the SEC, the FBI, the Indianapolis U.S. Attorney's Office and the Ohio Securities Division to Durham's fraud had been ignored for years, allowing more innocent Ohio investors to be lured into investing their life savings in Fair Finance. When the feds finally moved after it was too late, the U.S. Attorney's Office withdrew a critical civil forfeiture action, allowing Durham's equally as corrupt enablers the time they needed to ensure those defrauded investors would never see a dime of their money.
And about the fellow from Indianapolis Monthly featured prominently in tonight's broadcast, the one who drooled all over Durham before his downfall. How much money did Durham spend entertaining you for writing those puff pieces about him? Aren't you the same guy who refused to speak to whistle blowers? Yeah, I thought so.
So the "Playboy of Indiana" was entertaining, part reality and part fiction, just like the news fed to us by the lamestream media. As long as it entertains while re-directing your attention from the real story, that's all that really counts.
I trust you've read the franklin coverup by Decamp?
ReplyDeleteYes, I discuss it in one of my prior posts on Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking and include a video of the Franklin scandal as well.
ReplyDeleteworth noting that Indiana's former grand champion ponzu schemer, KR Payne, got released from prison today
ReplyDeleteThe myth the Mega-Media must keep alive is the system is not corrupt. Wrong doers or criminals must be portrayed as Rogues who some how slipped through the seams. The Rogue is caught, but the "System" works or so we are told. The Net of Justice will have plenty of holes in it for the chosen to escape from.
ReplyDeleteJustice is different for different people in Marion County, in Indiana, in America. That Carl Brizzi continues to walk this earth a free man living a life of plenty and of relative ease considering all the tainted associations, corrupt politicians, crony deals, and insider schemes that can be linked to him says much.
ReplyDeleteI thought the episode did a great job of painting Durham and his closest business partners of being absolute scumbags. I watch this show often and it is truly scary how many scumbags out there have done the same... I've never seen a rerun!
ReplyDeleteNo doubt Durham was further enabled by politicians and other elitists but that was really beyond the scope of this episode. Keep it simple and don't confuse the audience, otherwise folks might think Durham was a scapegoat and others were really to blame. He gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to campaigns, and I doubt that was just because of his desire to impress. Maybe things would change if we had an electorate that was (a) capable of connecting the dots on their own and (b) cares enough to do something about it!
What was illegal about the Brightpoint trade? How was it boiler room. I thought boiler room was pump and dump. Wasn't this the opposite? Just asking.
ReplyDeleteTim obviously used everyone around him as much as they used him. He must have an extremely low ego to need to brag and put on a show.
I thought it a little shameful that the has been model laughed at everything knowing about all the victims. It seems Tim left victims everywhere he went.
Durham boasted of making more than $30 million trading Brightpoint stock during a 1-year period starting back in 2002 when he first acquired Fair Finance. Brightpoint's stock was trading well below a dollar a share at the time and in danger of being delisted. According to the bankruptcy trustee, Durham used funds borrowed from Brightpoint to invest in the company's stock, along with a group of others. The trustee said the only other active trader in Brightpoint's stock at that time was Bernie Madoff. After the stock price dramatically increased, they dumped it, causing the stock price to precipitously drop. Of course, it later recovered, but the company's stock price was obviously being manipulated more than normal market conditions would have allowed.
ReplyDeleteDurham got the Brightpoint "tip" directly from Laikin (or Laikin's brother, I can't recall) who was on the board at Brightpoint. Teflon Carl also benefited handsomely from that insider trading with whatever money he could scrape together. He even tried to pass the tip around to his inner circle at the MCPO.
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