GOP groups, politicians agree to return Durham donations

Indiana Republicans will pay back controversial poliltical donations from indicted Indianapolis businessman Tim Durham.

24-Hour News 8 has learned the politicians aren't paying back all the money. But it's still thousands more that can be put toward repaying the 5,000 investors who are out more than $200,000 total.

• FULL COVERAGE | Track the ins and outs of the Durham case

Durham is in the midst of hearings over his dealings at Fair Finance, an Ohio investment company. He faces charges for misusing millions of dollars of investor money. The trustee trying to recover some of that cash had previously targeted lawsuits over political donations from Durham to Indiana candidates – hundreds of thousands of dollars that went mostly to Republicans - as money that should be used to reimburse those investors.

Many said the contributions from Durham had been spent years earlier and refused to pay it back . But now, after months of negotiations, the trustee has worked out agreements with some of them.

According to the trustee, Brian Bash:

Lawrence Mayor Paul Ricketts will pay back $32,000 of the $40,000 dollars in contributions from Durham.

The Greater Indianapolis Republican Finance Committee will give back almost $24,000 of the nearly $28,000 it got from Durham.

The Marion County Republican Central Committee will pay back $4,250 of the $5,000 it received from Durham.

Missing from these settlements are former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. The governor received about $195,000 dollars from Durham, and Brizzi received $225,000.

A member of the trustee’s office told 24-Hour News 8 that the trustee remains in active discussions with Daniels and Brizzi, and they expect to resolve those issues soon.

Anyone who objects to the proposed settlements has until Sept. 29 to file a complaint.

House Speaker Rep. Brian Bosma was among those originally named in lawsuits, but it was dropped shortly thereafter when Bosma made arrangements to return $10,000 from Durham .