Charleston's foremost economist accused of fraud by the SEC

[SimCity]

Al Parish, the best known economist in the Charleston metro was accused of securities fraud this Thursday by the SEC to the tune of $134 million. Also implicated was hi investment company, Parish Economics LLC. Parish was well known in the business community and frequently broadcasted his economic predictions for the Charleston metro in the Post & Courier. He's also known for his flashy suits and his penchant for buying diamond encrusted pens worth tens of thousands of dollars. Standing accused of strealing tens of millions of dollars, his fall could have some affect on the Charleston business community. Some 300 businesses some local and otherwise are thought to have invested with Parish and his employer, CSU, seeks the whereabouts of at least $10 million invested in his company. At least two funds that were supposed to contain $29 million actually had less than a $100,000 in each. A freeze has been placed on all of Parish's accounts, businesses, and hard assets while his wife stands accused of illegally transferring funds to avoid SEC radar and firing an assistant who refused to help her with the illegal action. Most upsetting is that the Charleston Digital Corridor Foundation, a group formed by the city of Charleston to help fund startup technology businesses had most of its investments with Parish. It remains to be seen whether the money can be recovered. This has really shaken up not only the Charleston business community but also other places far from Charleston. Parish himself remains in MUSC where he checked into after complaining about amnesia once the SEC contacted him about the five suits against him.

[Donny James]

Yeah I saw this. Very unfortunate. Ive seen him before on certain Live 5 News segments, and I have a friend that is in one of his classes at CSU. Whats REALLY crazy is the fact that he admitted hisself in the hospital with AMNESIA right after authorities tried to contact him and the fact that he actually went through with that, as if people would believe it. Amazing.

[SimCity]

Yeah I saw this. Very unfortunate. Ive seen him before on certain Live 5 News segments, and I have a friend that is in one of his classes at CSU. Whats REALLY crazy is the fact that he admitted hisself in the hospital with AMNESIA right after authorities tried to contact him and the fact that he actually went through with that, as if people would believe it. Amazing.

[Charleston native]

Wow guys, this is looking really serious, and the legal war is starting to get out of control. In the article link below, CSU is being sued by five investors charging that the school acted as a base for Parish to collect funds and perpetrate what the government calls an extended fraud. This is after CSU fired Parish last Thursday and filed its own suit against him for the charges brought against him by the SEC.

I would really hate to be an attorney for CSU right now. They have multiple suits they have to manage, from being a plaintiff in the suit against Parish to being a defendant in the suit against them, which was filed by several area residents. Needless to say, the board of CSU is not happy!

Investors sue CSU, calling it liable since Parish did business on campus

[MikesLogic]

That sucks for CSU. I feel for all the people that lost money to this parasite. Hopefully CSU wasn't too involved with Parish, I would hate to see them held liable for this idiot.

[Charleston native]

That's the problem. It is being said that Parish used CSU's facilities as a base for his operations and financial dealings. CSU was fully aware of his dealings, but they must have completely trusted him, evidently. The board is even saying that somebody might be fired for this form of "negligence", as they're calling it.

If the organization is not held liable, a senior administrator in CSU will be. The outside investors will probably ensure that.

[MikesLogic]

Yeah being associated with the college definitely added to his credibility.

[SimCity]

While not a Christian, I would hate to see CSU lose anything more due to Al Parish's alleged shell game. CSU is a good upright school with solid academics and a respected reputation. The 10 million dollars that can't be located represents almost a fourth of CSU's yearly operating budget. It seems likely that somone's head will roll at CSU because of this. Especially worrisome is the fact that Parish conducted financial transactions on school property in his office.