National Lampoon to pay $3M to settle suit over transfers

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – National Lampoon Inc. has agreed to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging a convicted former Indiana financier who once served as the company’s CEO fraudulently transferred millions of dollars to its accounts.

A judge must approve the proposed settlement, filed last week in federal bankruptcy court in Ohio.

The bankruptcy trustee for Akron, Ohio-based Fair Finance Co. sued National Lampoon in 2011, seeking more than $9 million it alleged was fraudulently moved from Fair Finance to the company, which owns the rights to the “Vacation” movies.

Those transfers allegedly occurred when Los Angeles-based National Lampoon was controlled by former Fair Finance executive Timothy Durham and another man.

Durham was sentenced to 50 years in prison in 2012 on securities fraud and other charges in Fair Finance’s financial collapse.