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Losses in Parish investment fraud case revised down to $79 million
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
Those who bet their life’s savings on Al Parish, former Charleston Southern University economist, might consider it a minor consolation, but the tally of the actual loss resulting from his investment schemes has been lowered by the court-appointed receiver overseeing the case.
The estimated loss, which for months has been pegged at close to $90 million, now appears closer to $79 million based on the most thorough review thus far of claims filed last year.
The new data was filed in a federal court on March 14.
To date, receiver Gregory Hays of Atlanta has raised about $14.5 million by selling Parish’s assets and gathering money he held in a multitude of accounts. The receivership hopes to sell off the remainder of Parish’s estate — an odd collection of clown paintings, pens, coins and animation art — by the end of the year.
Also waiting in the wings to be sold at auction are four properties that could be worth as much as $1 million to Parish’s aggrieved investors.
These properties include a time share at Disney World in Florida, two vacant lots near Summerville and a North Carolina home that once belonged to Parish’s wife, Yolanda
Yoder.
Four other properties were auctioned off in early March for $3.5 million. They were purchased by the National Bank of South Carolina, which already held mortgages on the properties.
Parish is awaiting sentencing on charges of fraud and lying to investigators.
The receiver’s report was the first official statement to the court since the receiver announced its proposed settlement deal with Charleston Southern University in January.
Under the deal, CSU would pay $3.9 million and surrender up to $1.5 million in claims on recovered money in a deal that would shield it from liability related to Parish’s investments.
U.S. District Judge David Norton has scheduled a hearing on April 14 to consider the proposal.
Although CSU lost $8.4 million of its own money due to Parish’s schemes, federal investigators have long maintained they think the school also inadvertently helped him perpetrate his fraud.
Among prosecutors’ assertions are that CSU officials knew and approved of Parish running his “investments” from his office there, and that computers used to further his schemes were actually university property.
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