Al Parish (born in the late-1950s) is a former

Charleston Southern University Charleston Southern University (CSU) is a private university in North Charleston, South Carolina, United States. It is affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention (Southern Baptist Convention). History Charleston Southern Universit ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

and business professor, who was sentenced to

federal prison A federal prison is operated under the jurisdiction of a federal government as opposed to a state or provincial body. Federal prisons are used for people who violated federal law (U.S., Mexico), people considered dangerous (Brazil), or those sen ...

after pleading guilty to financial fraud. Nearly 300 people lost up to $66 million invested in Parish Economic's private investment funds.

Early Career and "Economan" Persona

Before being charged with fraud, Parish was known as a flamboyant local financial expert dubbed 'Economan'. He gained notoriety for his extravagant lifestyle, including a $1.2 million pen collection, featuring a $170,000 diamond-encrusted pen.

The Fraud Scheme

Parish orchestrated a Ponzi scheme through his company, Parish Economics. He falsified investment statements and used new investors' money to pay returns to earlier investors. The fraud included over $4 million set aside for Athletic Facilities improvements at Charleston Southern University.

Legal Proceedings and Sentencing

Parish began serving a 24-year sentence in the summer of 2008 after pleading guilty to orchestrating a

Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays Profit (accounting), profits to earlier investors with Funding, funds from more recent investors. Named after Italians, Italian confidence artist Charles Ponzi, this type of s ...

, admitting to swindling investors out of nearly $90 million. He was ordered to pay restitution of $66.8 million. Investigators believe they will recover $9–15 million for investors, but the investigation has cost more than $2 million. He served his sentence at

Butner Federal Correctional Complex The Federal Correctional Complex, Butner (FCC Butner) is a United States federal prison complex for men near Butner, North Carolina. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice. FCC Butne ...

outside of

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...

along with inmates such as

Bernard Madoff Bernard Lawrence Madoff ( ; April 29, 1938April 14, 2021) was an American financial criminal and financier who was the admitted mastermind of the largest known Ponzi scheme in history, worth an estimated $65 billion. He was at one time ...

, another high-profile financial fraudster.

Compassionate Release

After serving about half his sentence, Parish was granted a "compassionate release" on March 17, 2021, due to a number of chronic health conditions and the risk of severe illness from coronavirus, according to an order by U.S. District Judge

Richard Gergel Richard Mark Gergel (born August 14, 1954) is an American lawyer who serves as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. Early life and education Born in Columbia, South Carolina, G ...

. Al Parish was released from federal prison on March 24, 2021. Court documents reveal that Al Parish initially filed for compassionate release on April 10, 2020, citing the combined risk of COVID-19 and his chronic medical conditions as extraordinary and compelling reasons for compassionate release. However, this initial request was denied by the court, which determined that Parish's medical conditions at that time did not meet the threshold requirements for compassionate release. Parish moved for reconsideration after contracting COVID-19. The court later reversed its decision upon discovering he was suffering from Stage 3B chronic kidney disease, allowing his release.

Aftermath and Impact

The Al Parish case had a significant impact on the Charleston community and highlighted the need for increased scrutiny of investment advisors. Many of Parish's victims were retirees and small investors who lost their life savings. The case also led to changes in financial regulations and increased awareness about Ponzi schemes.

References

External links

Parish Economics website
in June 2006, featuring the 'Economan' cartoon. {{DEFAULTSORT:Parish, Al 1950s births American fraudsters 21st-century American economists Charleston Southern University people Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Living people Crimes in South Carolina Year of birth missing (living people)