Judge accepts Schrenker restitution plan

A Hamilton Circuit Court judge on Friday approved a restitution plan that would pay 7 cents on the dollar to investors who lost money as a result of fraud led by convicted money manager Marcus Schrenker.

Checks are expected to be mailed later this month to individuals, governmental agencies and companies that filed claims against Schrenker after Judge Paul Felix's decision, said Kenneth Munson, partner at Bingham McHale LLP in Indianapolis. Munson works with O. Wayne Davis, who was the court-appointed receiver for Schrenker's assets.

In the plan, investors would split about $276,000, while administrative professionals, the Internal Revenue Service, the Indiana Department of Revenue and unsecured creditors would split the remaining portion of the more than $500,000 of Schrenker's available assets. Claims submitted from investors were listed at nearly $3.9 million.

A sale of Schrenker's personal property in Indianapolis this past summer raised a large portion of the funds now available for disbursement.

Munson said defrauded investors could pursue further civil actions against Schrenker, but they would have to determine what money is available for them to recover. No objections to the plan were filed before Felix made his decision, Munson said.

"We've recovered what we could," Munson said.

Schrenker, a 1989 Merrillville High School graduate, was sentenced to serve 10 years in prison in October after pleading guilty to securities fraud charges a month earlier. Hamilton Superior Court Judge Steven Nation also ordered Schrenker to serve his 51-month federal prison sentence for crashing his plane last year in an attempt to fake his death immediately after his state prison sentence.

Schrenker, 40, currently is serving his Indiana sentence at Miami Correctional Facility in Bunker Hill.