Barry Minkow

Barry Minkow is a former American businessman, pastor, and convicted felon. He is best known for his role in the ZZZZ Best scam, one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history.

Early Life

Barry Minkow was born on March 22, 1966, in Inglewood, California. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley and attended John F. Kennedy High School.

ZZZZ Best

In 1982, at the age of 16, Minkow founded ZZZZ Best, a carpet-cleaning company. Initially, the company appeared to be a legitimate business, but it was actually a front for a massive Ponzi scheme. Minkow used fraudulent documents and fake customers to inflate the company's revenues and secure loans from banks and investors.

Growth and Fraud

ZZZZ Best went public in 1986, and its stock soared, making Minkow a millionaire on paper. However, the company was primarily a Ponzi scheme, with most of its "profits" coming from fraudulent activities. Minkow and his associates created fake documents and used them to deceive auditors and investors.

Collapse

The scheme began to unravel in 1987 when a newspaper investigation exposed the fraud. The Los Angeles Times published a series of articles that revealed the company's fraudulent activities. In 1988, Minkow was convicted of 57 counts of fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Later Life

After serving seven years in prison, Minkow was released on parole in 1995. He became a pastor and founded the Fraud Discovery Institute, a for-profit investigative firm that exposed corporate fraud.

Return to Fraud

Despite his claims of rehabilitation, Minkow returned to fraudulent activities. In 2011, he was convicted of insider trading and sentenced to five years in prison. He was also ordered to pay restitution to the victims of his fraud.

Related Pages

• Ponzi scheme
• Corporate fraud
• Insider trading