Charleston Man Sentenced for Investor Fraud
Economist Al Parish was in the news again after the accounting firm Legare & Bailey agreed to pay 952,000.00 to potential claims from investors. The firm has stated that it was unaware of any investor fraud by Parish, but there were indicators that should have raised "red flags." It is rare for a party that is not indicted to contribute to loses created by one of its clients. Usually, for this to occur, there is a possible threat of prosecution. Many times the lead defendant will also implicate the accounting firm in the fraud prosecution. This sharing of the blame will allow the defendant to cut his time and any possible fine. Enron and its' accounting practices were one of the first large scale examples of this type of federal indictment.
Parish has appealed his sentence arguing that it is to high for a fraud indictment. His appeal will go to the Fourth(4th) Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. The appeal of his sentence will be based on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. His prison exposure is based in large part on the amount of money he is alleged to have taken in the fraud scheme. In this case, if he plead guilty to 66 million there is very little the appellate court will change on appeal. His key appellate issue will be to argue that the trial court failed to consider mitigating factors. Our appellate attorneys in South Carolina have over 14 appeals currently docketed with the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. This Court is one of the more conservative appellate courts, but they do review each appeal in great detail. We have had great success appealing verdicts and trial court rules in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia.
Our federal appeal lawyers are experience at filing appeals with the 11th circuit court of appeals in Atlanta. We also file appeals with the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia. We are also ready to file any appeal with the United States Supreme Court.
