Durham headed back to halfway house?

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Embattled Indianapolis financier Tim Durham may be on his way back to a bunk at a downtown halfway house.

At a hearing Friday, Durham had asked Magistrate Judge Kenard Foster to allow him to move out of his sister’s home in an exclusive neighborhood on Geist Reservoir and back into his own mansion in the area. But the prosecution objected to the proposal, and the judge did too.

• COMPLETE COVERAGE: Track the ins and outs of the Durham case

The judge instead initially suggested Durham should be sent back to the Volunteers of America halfway house in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana Business Journal reports, but his lawyer John Tompkins convinced the judge to give them 72 hours to work with the Probation Department make other arrangements.

The judge said that since both Durham’s and his sister’s houses are in foreclosure, neither were an acceptable place for Durham to stay during court proceedings. He was ordered to move back to Indiana by early April, part of an agreement that let him leave a federal detention center in Los Angeles on $1 million bond.

Kenard first ordered him to the halfway house on April 6, after he and his legal team provided financial statements that the judge deemed inadequate. Once he provided the information the judge wanted, he was allowed to move to a relative's home on detention . That location turned out to be his sister's Geist mansion .

Durham is accused of orchestrating a Ponzi scheme with Fair Finance , funneling money to support his lavish lifestyle. Investigators said Durham, along with James Cochran and Rick Snow, defrauded about 5,000 investors out of $200 million. Each face 12 federal charges - 11 of them felonies with possible 20-year sentences.

Durham was arrested March 16 in Los Angeles, where a federal judge allowed a $1 million security bond, which was secured by his ex-wife and her father.