Al Parish (born in the late-1950s) is a former Charleston Southern University economist and business professor, who was sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to financial fraud.
Parish began serving a 24-year sentence in the summer of 2008 after pleading guilty to orchestrating a Ponzi scheme, admitting to swindling investors out of nearly $90 million.
[6][7] He served his sentence at Butner Federal Correctional Complex outside of Raleigh, North Carolina along with inmates such as Bernard Madoff, another high-profile financial fraudster.
[8] 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.
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.