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Sunday, May 20, 2007

Amnesiac Professor's
Memory Returning




'CHARLESTON -- Jailed economics professor Al Parish is helping investigators trying to track the curious group of assets he bought as investments.

Parish initially claimed amnesia when he was arrested last month. But his memory seems to be coming back, said J. David Dantzler, an attorney for the Atlanta company rounding up Parish's assets.

Dantzler spoke to Parish at the Charleston County jail Thursday. Parish, who also provided economic research for groups on the Grand Strand, has been indicted on 11 federal counts of mail and wire fraud.

Dantzler said he was allowed to ask whatever he wanted to, but did not question Parish about the collapse of his investment pools, where nearly 600 clients may have been victimized.

Throughout the discussion, Parish stressed that his assets, like his million-dollar pen collection, artwork, books and rare coins, some valued at tens of thousands of dollars, were a savvy set of investments he purchased below market value. Investigators said that appraisers and dealers have painted a different picture.

"He still believes that the value of most of the stuff is meaningfully higher than what we've been led to believe it's worth," Dantzler said.

The interview did not reveal any new items, but did fill in some holes.

Though Parish has claimed to suffer from amnesia, Dantzler said that there were few moments in the five hours he spent Parish where the former economist said he was drawing a blank, Dantzler said.

The former Charleston Southern University professor has been doing mental exercises to restore his recollection before federal investigators closed in on his business, Dantzler said.'



The exercises involve imagining his future if he doesn't tell authorities what he knows.