James Cochran, the business associate of disgraced Indianapolis financier Tim Durham, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in a Ponzi scheme that swindled about 5,000 investors out of more $200 million.
U.S. District Judge Jane Magnus-Stinson sentenced Cochran about an hour after she sentenced Durham to 50 years in prison.
In June, a jury found Durham, Cochran and another business associate, Rick Snow, guilty of securities fraud and conspiracy.
Prosecutors say the three men used Ohio-based Fair Finance as their personal piggy banks, orchestrating an elaborate Ponzi scheme to steal investors’ money to buy mansions, fancy cars and other luxury items for themselves.