30-year term sought for Parish
Former economist hospitalized; prosecutors say $79M fraud justifies long sentence
By Schuyler Kropf
Al Parish
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Fallen economist Al Parish was rushed to the emergency room Thursday, hours after federal prosecutors asked a judge to imprison him for more than 30 years.
He was still under medical watch Thursday evening after being admitted for shortness of breath, a family member reported.
Earlier in the day, prosecutors requested a stringent prison term, noting that Parish's Ponzi scheme pilfered the lives of family, friends and co-workers.
"The defendant's victims were young and old, working and retired, healthy and infirm," court papers contend. Prosecutors asked he be held for 365 months after investigators estimate Parish stole or squandered roughly $79 million.
If Chief Judge David Norton accepts the request, the sentence would likely ensure Parish, 50, spends the rest of his days behind bars. At nearly 340 pounds, he has long been obese and suffers from maladies that include diabetes and heart disease.
Earlier this week, Parish was released from the Medical University of South Carolina Hospital after doctors inserted a device to clear a blocked artery. Parish had a similar device installed 11 years ago.
Parish's sentencing is scheduled for Thursday at the U.S. District Courthouse on Meeting Street in Charleston. However, Parish's attorney, Andy Savage, said the proceedings may be delayed by his client's health.
In anticipation of the sentencing, court officials are a preparing "overflow" rooms to accommodate what they expect to be a large crowd. Parish's aggrieved investors will be given the chance to describe how the losses affected their lives if they choose to address the court.
Parish, a former Charleston Southern University professor, was charged in a massive case of investor fraud in April 2007. He pleaded guilty in October under a deal with the government that reduced the number of charges from 11 to three.
Prosecutors buttressed their sentencing request Thursday by including excerpts of letters from some of Parish's nearly 600 victims showing both the financial and mental effects of their losses.
"My wife and I have spent many stress-filled days and nights thinking how we can overcome this major setback," one investor wrote. "It has been an emotional roller coaster for us. We have wept and still try to deal with the thought that we have failed our children by investing with Al Parish. We have both asked God, 'Why us?' "
Said another, "I have been depressed ever since I learned of Al Parish's deception. My investment, while not large, made me feel like I had options; a bit of money for every once in awhile. I now feel very trapped, just barely able to take care of myself."
Others spoke of working extra jobs and losing money that was earmarked for college tuition while "Mr. Parish was feeding his face in fine restaurants in Charleston and around the world."
In his plea for leniency also filed Thursday, Savage drew on testimony of his client's family, childhood friends, local business leaders and pastor — painting a picture of a brilliant, hard-working, charitable Christian. Savage argued that Parish's life had become overwhelmed because of his "intense loyalty and inability to say 'no' to people."
He painted Parish as someone who wasn't trying to rip people off but was trying to establish himself as a premier financial guru. There is no dispute Parish financially benefited, Savage wrote, but "the motivation for this crime was not personal economic achievement; rather it was an attempt to prove to investors that the academic, economic model he had built for investment purposes had a real value in the day-to-day operation of the market."
Norton will consider the arguments of the prosecution and the defense, as well as federal sentencing guidelines. However, the final decision on Parish's penalty is his.
Savage also enlisted a consultant who analyzed similar cases and allegedly found an average prison sentence of 4 1/2 years in those where the loss surpassed $50 million. He also asked the judge to consider Parish's relatively poor health during sentencing.
Reach Schuyler Kropf at 937-5551, or skropf@postandcourier.com. Reach Kyle Stock at 937-5763 or kstock@postandcourier.com.
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watchdog (anonymous) says...
Hey Big Al, here some financial advise - Don't drop the soap........LOLLOLLOL
June 20, 2008 at 2:34 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sfarris (anonymous) says...
Oh now it all makes sense why he is sick..very sad, very sad indeed little err big man..you had a chance to live right, and you chose to ruin lives. Now you must pay the price. No more eating out for you Al Parish!!
June 20, 2008 at 3:41 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
whalernut (anonymous) says...
I hope he spends at least a year behind bars before he kicks it.
You slimy pig enjoys hell.
30 years is not enough he deserves a life sentence and a guy named heavy pounding his ass everyday.
Andy Savage may be as low as I have ever seen him be. The fat ass Al could not say no, he was a devoted Christian, what the hell is that? Christian's don't steal. Damn them both!
June 20, 2008 at 5:51 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
moonpie (anonymous) says...
Faked amnesia when he was caught and now is faking this to avoid immediate sentencing.
June 20, 2008 at 6:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
SuzieQJones (anonymous) says...
It is hard to understand how Al Parish is having heart problems, he doesn't have a heart!
June 20, 2008 at 6:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Thoroughbred (anonymous) says...
He couldn't possibly have health insurance, or money to get health insurance, at this point so I guess us taxpayers are picking up the tab for his medical bills.
June 20, 2008 at 7:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
DanniD (anonymous) says...
fat man in a little cell
June 20, 2008 at 7:13 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
singleroni (anonymous) says...
watch out i smell a plea bargain, he will be out this time next year laying on a beach laughing at everybody.
June 20, 2008 at 7:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
MP (anonymous) says...
He deserves every single minute he gets for hurting so many people that trusted him. Some of them will now live in poverty for the rest of their lives. What we have witnessed was the criminal trial for his theft. The people he stole from can sue him in civil court to make sure he never owns anything of value again in his life - like the Goldmans went after OJ Simpson. If I were a lawyer, I'd be their legal representation for free.
June 20, 2008 at 8:06 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
granny2 (anonymous) says...
I think Big Al is faking his health problem just like he faked every think else. Put his wife in there with him, because she was a part of it too. I wonder how she is making a living now, does anyone know?
June 20, 2008 at 8:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
CaptPete (anonymous) says...
They will make him a teacher which could reduce his time in half. Also if stays out of trouble he will get more time off. He needs to stay healthy. He could be out in ten years.
June 20, 2008 at 8:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
watchdog (anonymous) says...
Now he may have a heart problem, he is 900 lbs. but he better not pick up the soap....Thomas 1776 you are right, he is scum. The best line from Scarface - Frank your a pig that can't fly straight......opps I dropped the soap, again, OUCH!!!!!!
June 20, 2008 at 8:50 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tbird (anonymous) says...
Andy Savage should be ashamed of himself for making the following comment:
There is no dispute Parish financially benefited, Savage wrote, but "the motivation for this crime was not personal economic achievement; rather it was an attempt to prove to investors that the academic, economic model he had built for investment purposes had a real value in the day-to-day operation of the market."
Talk about grasping for straws! No wonder attorneys are held in such high disregard!!!
June 20, 2008 at 9:32 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Floger76 (anonymous) says...
Parish should serve time for this. But this does show some inequity in our system. Al PArish could get 30 years, but why is it that when someone strangles and kills a person, they get much less???
June 20, 2008 at 9:40 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
PoisenIvy (anonymous) says...
We ALL know how effective the SYSTEM worked for the Goldmans.
They got peanuts and OJ lives the high life, playing golf everyday & living off his exempt pensions and hidden offshore accounts.
But go ahead and DREAM...
June 20, 2008 at 10:27 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
OldSalt (anonymous) says...
Those of us who have had the misfortune of knowing people like Al Parish know it is next to impossible to pin them down. When caught with their hands in the cookie jar, or when it comes to Mr. Parish up to his elbows in the cookie jar, they become professional victims.
Mr. Parish has conned people his entire life because he is smart enough to draw them into his own fantasy: the flamboyant heterosexual financial genius. He will do anything not to face up to the opposite truths - amnesia and shortness of breath are just the beginning.
Watch when he gets out and forms Al Parish Ministries. Remember Jim Baker and Charles Colson? He will be on the 700 Club and TBN promoting his best-selling book and his ministry within three years.
Congratulations, Andy, on another job well done! Are you representing him pro bono?
June 20, 2008 at 12:02 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tracy1750 (anonymous) says...
I for one plan on being there to cheer when he is sentenced.
June 20, 2008 at 12:27 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
membruto (anonymous) says...
Sure, the guy's a bum and faking, but instead of the taxpayer supporting HIM for the next 30 yrs why not make him get a job with 90% of his earnings going to the people he bilked. I realize that would be peanuts, but it still beats us having to support him.
June 20, 2008 at 1:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
watchfuleye (anonymous) says...
Here is a sentencing excerpt from a very similar case of inverstment fraud. Fat Cat AL should be treated no differently despite what his highly compensated attorney expresses:
a federal judge slapped Israel with a stiff sentence and stung him with harsh words.
"You were, in every meaning of the sense, a career criminal," U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon said. "You ruined lives. Financial fraud, white-collar crimes are every bit as heinous as every other type of crime and they will be punished severely."
Lawyers for Israel had sought leniency, noting he's had numerous back operations and is addicted to painkillers. The judge had no compassion in her voice when she said, "He suffered from these ailments while he did the crime. He can deal with them while he does the time."
June 20, 2008 at 1:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
singleroni (anonymous) says...
he will never serve any time.
June 20, 2008 at 2:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Two_Sheds (anonymous) says...
DanniD, your "Tommy Boy" style comment about killed me, LOL! Too, too funny!
This guy is a pathetic sack of you-know-what, and I want to vomit every time I see his Porky Pig-looking face in the paper. He needs to have the Stephen King "Thinner" curse put on him. He deserves to fry in his own fat.
Additionally, there is NO WAY his wife couldn't have known that he was getting that money dishonestly, because nobody has that much money to throw around. I mean, 80 million dollars?!?! She is guilty by association, if you ask me.
June 20, 2008 at 2:29 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Magpie (anonymous) says...
It does sound like another fake to avoid what's coming. I also wonder what Yolanda is doing these days to make ends meet. She was part of the "business" but I guess the judge decided her punishment is raising Al's kids!
June 20, 2008 at 2:34 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
tracy1750 (anonymous) says...
They are all living off family, the same family they stole from. I love my child but never would I condone or help him if he hurt so many people.
June 20, 2008 at 4:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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