Judgment against Parish

  • Staff report
  • Posted: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 12:01 a.m.
    UPDATED: Thursday, March 22, 2012 5:15 p.m.
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Former Charleston Southern University economist Al Parish was convicted of defrauding nearly 600 investors.
/Former Charleston Southern University economist Al Parish was convicted of defrauding nearly 600 investors.

The federal agency that regulates commodity trading said Monday it has obtained a judgment against former Charleston Southern University economist Al Parish.

The order signed by U.S. District Court Judge David Norton settled a lawsuit alleging that Parish and his Parish Economics LLC "lied to customers and misappropriated millions of dollars in customer funds" between 1986 and March 2007, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in a statement.

The commission said about $40 million was to be invested in a commodity futures pool.

"Parish and Parish Economics misrepresented to pool participants that funds would be invested in commodity futures when, in reality, Parish misappropriated the vast majority of funds for his personal use," the agency said. "Parish and Parish Economics also provided false futures account statements to pool participants and failed to provide required pool disclosure documents."

The commission sued Parish in April 2007. According to the order, Parish will be subject to a criminal judgment restitution obligation of more than $40 million.

Also, the order permanently bars Parish and his firm from violating specific provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and from engaging in any commodity-related activities.

Parish was sentenced to 24 years in federal prison in June for a wide-ranging investment scheme in which nearly 600 investors were bilked of about $66 million.