Mike Parrish is the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District and touts his record as a business owner. However, research done by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that has been leaked to The Daily Caller by hacker Guccifer 2.0 reveals a less than stellar business record.
Parrish started Equisol in 2003, which described itself as an “equipment solutions provider specializing in the water and wastewater industry.” In 2009, Equisol was bought by Xiom Corp and became a subsidiary of Environmental Infrastructure Holdings Corps (EIHC). Parrish then became the president, chairman, and CEO of Xiom Corp. Xiom filed for bankruptcy in 2011.
Between 2009 and 2013, Equisol was named in 13 civil suits. In one them, Equisol was ordered to give $45,524 to the plaintiff KDM Sales and Services for payment Parrish acknowledged he had to pay and didn’t. Parrish was also named a defendant along with Xiom and EIHC in a 2013 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) civil case.
The plaintiffs, who were investors, alleged that they were defrauded out of tens of thousands of dollars by Parrish and his partners. One part of the the complaint said that Parrish misrepresented that “Equisol was achieving revenues of approximately $8m to $10m when in truth Equisol revenues were purportedly $1.8m for the express purpose of fraudulently inducing Plaintiffs’ to invest into Xiom.”
Parrish denied the charges against him and the case was settled out of court. One of Parrish’s co-defendants, James Zimbler, who became the director of EIHC in 2009, plead guilty to money laundering charges in 2006. These details about Parrish’s business record were documented by the DCCC back in 2014.
Michael Parrish (PA-06) Timeline 12.16.14
“Mr. Parrish’s record of fraud, deceit and ineptitude was well-documented long before any leaked memo by a foreign entity. Whether it’s the hundreds of thousands of dollars in court decisions levied against him or the more recent home foreclosure proceedings filed against him by his bank, it’s clear Mike Parrish can’t be trusted to balance his own checkbook let alone have oversight over our tax dollars,” Vincent Galko, senior adviser to Parrish’s opponent Rep. Ryan Costello, told The Daily Caller.