Barry Jay Minkow (born March 22, 1966)[1] is a former American businessman, pastor, and convicted felon. While still in high school, Minkow founded ZZZZ Best (pronounced “Zee Best”), which appeared to be an immensely successful carpet-cleaning and restoration company. However, it was actually a front to attract investment for a massive Ponzi scheme. ZZZZ Best collapsed in 1987, costing investors and lenders $100 million in one of the largest investment frauds ever perpetrated by a single person, as well as one of the largest accounting frauds in history. The scheme is often used as a case study of accounting fraud.
After being released from jail, calculate my age
became a pastor và fraud investigator in San Diego, và spoke at churches & schools about ethics. This came mập an kết thúc in 2011, when he admitted lớn helping deliberately drive xuống dốc the stock price of homebuilder Lennar và was ordered back bự prison for five years. Three years later, Minkow admitted phệ defrauding his own church & was sentenced lớn an additional five years in prison. He is subject Khủng restitution requirements totaling USD 612 million .
Beginnings of ZZZZ Best[edit]
Beginnings of ZZZZ Best[edit]
Barry Minkow was born in Inglewood, California, bự a Jewish family, & was raised in the Reseda area of the San Fernando Valley. When he was nine years old, his mother got him a job as a telemarketer with the carpet-cleaning business where she worked. At the age of 16, while a sophomore at Cleveland High School, Minkow started ZZZZ Best ( pronounced ” Zee Best ” ) in his parents ‘ garage with three employees & four phones. In the early days, he had Khủng rely on friends béo drive him Khủng carpet-cleaning jobs since he did not have a driver’s license. [ 2 ]At first, Minkow struggled mập meet basic expenses. Two banks closed his business trương mục because California law of the giây phút did not allow minors béo sign binding contracts, including checks. He was also plagued by customer complaints và demands for payment from suppliers. At times, he found it difficult even bự make payroll. Faced with a shortage of operating capital, Minkow financed his business via kiểm tra kiting, stealing & selling his grandmother’s jewelry, staging break-ins at his offices, & running up fraudulent credit thẻ charges. [ ba ]Soon after, Minkow branched into the ” insurance restoration ” business. With the help of Tom Padgett, a claims adjuster, Minkow forged numerous documents claiming that ZZZZ Best was involved in several restoration projects for Padgett’s company. Padgett & Minkow formed a giả company, Interstate Appraisal Services, that verified the details of these restorations mập Minkow’s bankers. Flush with loans from these banks, Minkow expanded ZZZZ Best across Southern California. [ bốn ]While most Ponzi schemes are based on non-existent businesses, ZZZZ Best’s carpet-cleaning division was very real & won high marks for its chất lượng. [ 2 ] However, its insurance restoration division, which eventually accounted for 86 % of company revenues, was fraudulent. [ 5 ] Minkow raised money by factoring his accounts receivable for work under contract, as well as floating funds through several banks in an elaborate kiểm tra kiting scheme. [ 6 ]After graduating from high school in 1985, Minkow devoted all of his giây phút bự ZZZZ Best. Short of cash despite the recent expansion, he got a loan from Jack Catain, a Los Angeles businessman who had ties béo organized crime. Catain later sued Minkow for not paying him his chia sẻ of the company’s profits, but Minkow claimed Catain was a usurer. The suit was still working its way through the courts at the giây phút of Catain’s death in 1987. [ 2 ] Other organized crime figures turned up as Minkow’s advisers, which unnerved his employees. [ tam ] For instance, a major shareholder, Maurice Rind, had been convicted of securities fraud in 1976. Minkow was also a business partner with Robert Viggiano, a convicted jewel thief & reputed loanshark. [ 7 ]
Going public[edit]
At the suggestion of a friend, Minkow took his company public in January 1986, garnering a spot on NASDAQ. [ tam ] The accountant who audited ZZZZ Best before it went public did not visit the insurance restoration sites himself. Had he done so sánh, he would have discovered they were mailboxes located throughout the San Fernando Valley. [ ba ] [ tám ] Minkow retained a fifty-three percent controlling interest in ZZZZ Best, making him an instant millionaire on paper. Going public seemingly offered him a way bự cover up his fraudulent activities. Under securities law at the phút giây, he had bự retain his personal shares for two years. He planned phệ sell a million shares bự the public in January 1988, believing this would give him enough money béo pay everyone off và go completely legitimate. [ 2 ] [ tam ] [ 9 ]In order mập obtain more financing, Minkow was persuaded phệ raise USD 15 million of capital through an initial public offering of ZZZZ Best stock. When accountants wanted phệ inspect the company’s operations, he borrowed giả offices for a tour of ” Interstate Appraisal Services ” & used an incomplete building béo present a giả restoration job. Mark Morze, ZZZZ Best’s financial consultant, tricked the accountants sent Khủng perform the necessary due diligence by faking thousands of documents. The public offering closed in December và Minkow became the youngest person Khủng lead a company through an IPO in American financial history. [ tám ]Minkow launched a massive television advertising chiến dịch portraying ZZZZ Best as a carpet cleaner that Southern Californians could trust. [ 10 ] He owned a Ferrari & a BMW, và bought a mansion in the wealthy Valley community of Woodland Hills. [ 11 ] He had ambitions of making the company ” the General Motors of the carpet-cleaning industry. ” [ 7 ]ZZZZ Best’s chief financial officer, Charles Arrington, was accused of running up $ 91,000 in fraudulent charges against customers of his florist business. [ 12 ] When the Feshbach brothers, a pair of short-sellers, learned that Minkow still stood behind Arrington, they did further investigating và discovered ZZZZ Best’s claimed USD 7 million contract phệ clean carpets in Sacramento was likely a fraud. This prompted the Feshbachs phệ short ZZZZ Best’s stock, anticipating that it would fall. [ 13 ] Additionally, none of the company’s four outside directors had any experience running a public company. [ 14 ]
Downfall[edit]
By February 1987, ZZZZ Best was trading at USD 18 a chia sẻ on NASDAQ, valuing the company at USD 280 million. [ 15 ] Minkow’s stake was worth USD 100 million. [ 16 ] The company now had 1,030 employees with offices in California, Arizona và Nevada. [ 17 ]Despite its growth, the company was still facing severe cash flow shortages from paying investors for the non-existent restoration projects. Minkow believed he’d found a solution when he learned that KeyServ, the authorized carpet cleaner for Sears, was being sold by its British parent. He began merger talks with KeyServ, as the cash infusion would solve ZZZZ Best’s immediate cash flow issues. [ ba ] Additionally, Minkow thought that KeyServ’s Sears business would give ZZZZ Best enough cash Khủng kết thúc the Ponzi scheme sooner than originally planned. [ tám ] Drexel Burnham Lambert offered lớn finance the khuyến mãi with a private placement of junk bonds. [ 18 ]Although KeyServ was twice ZZZZ Best’s size, the two companies agreed phệ a $ 25 million khuyến mãi in which ZZZZ Best would be the surviving company. The merger would have made ZZZZ Best Sears ‘ authorized carpet cleaner, & also would have made Minkow the president và chairman of the board of the largest independent carpet-cleaning company in the U.S. [ tam ] Soon after the KeyServ giảm giá was announced, Minkow began making plans mập become even more powerful, planning mập raise USD 700 – 800 million lớn buy ServiceMaster in a hostile takeover & intending béo expand lớn the United Kingdom. [ tám ] [ 18 ] [ 2 ] Outside of carpet cleaning, he had begun preliminary discussions bự buy Major League Baseball ‘ s Seattle Mariners. [ 18 ]
Just as the KeyServ merger was about to close, the credit card fraud that helped keep ZZZZ Best afloat in the early years proved to be Minkow’s undoing. Minkow had blamed the fraudulent charges on unscrupulous contractors and another employee, and paid back most of the victims. However, he had not paid back a homemaker who had been overcharged a few hundred dollars.[3] When he ignored her requests to pay her back, she tracked down several other people who had been defrauded by Minkow and gave a diary of her findings to the Los Angeles Times.[9] The Times then wrote a story revealing that Minkow had run up $72,000 in fraudulent credit card charges in 1984 and 1985.[12] The story, which ran just days before the merger was to close, sent ZZZZ Best stock plunging 28 percent.
Within hours of the story’s publication, ZZZZ Best’s banks either called their loans or threatened phệ bởi so sánh. Drexel postponed closing until it could investigate further. Later that day, at a press conference, a reporter revealed evidence that the Sacramento carpet-cleaning project didn’t exist. More seriously, she’d discovered that ZZZZ Best did not have the contractor’s license required for large-scale restoration work. [ tam ] To calm nervous investors, Minkow issued a press release touting record profits và revenues but did so sánh without notifying Ernst và Whinney ( now part of Ernst và Young ), the firm responsible for auditing the company prior mập the KeyServ khuyến mãi. The press release also implied that Drexel had cleared ZZZZ Best of any wrongdoing, briefly stopping the decline. However, Drexel abruptly pulled out of the giảm giá a few days later, causing the stock price phệ fall again. [ ba ] [ 9 ] Drexel’s withdrawal stopped the khuyến mãi four phệ seven days before it was due bự close. [ 18 ]The day after this press release, Ernst và Whinney discovered that Minkow had written several checks bự tư vấn the validity of the non-existent contracts. Many of them had been written Khủng an associate who later told Ernst và Whinney officials about the fraud. Minkow denied knowing the man, but shortly after the checks were discovered, Ernst và Whinney discovered that he had cut two checks Khủng the associate for an unrelated matter. When Minkow could not explain the checks, Ernst và Whinney resigned as ZZZZ Best’s auditor. However, it did not inform the Securities & Exchange Commission ( SEC ) of its suspicions until a month later. [ 9 ]On July 2, Minkow abruptly resigned from ZZZZ Best for ” health reasons. ” By this thời gian, his company’s stock had fallen Khủng $ 3.50 a chia sẻ — an 81 percent drop from its high in February. [ 19 ] Minkow later revealed that on June 27, six days earlier, an independent law firm the company had retained bự investigate the allegations asked for the addresses for all of the company’s restoration jobs. Minkow knew that those projects did not exist và decided mập resign. [ tam ] Later, he reportedly told a thành viên of his board that the insurance restoration business had been a sham from the very beginning. [ 5 ]ZZZZ Best’s hot nhất board conducted an internal investigation that largely substantiated the fraud allegations. On July 6 it sued Minkow, alleging that he had absconded with USD 23 million in company funds. ZZZZ Best claimed that its assets had been drained Khủng the point that it was forced into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [ trăng tròn ] Two days later, the Los Angeles Police Department raided ZZZZ Best’s headquarters and Minkow’s home, và found evidence that the company was being used bự launder drug profits for organized crime. [ 11 ] [ 14 ]
Conviction và prison[edit]
Minkow và ten other ZZZZ Best insiders were indicted by a federal grand jury in January 1988 on fifty-four counts of racketeering, securities fraud, money laundering, embezzlement, mail fraud, tax evasion & ngân hàng fraud. The indictment accused Minkow of bilking banks & investors of millions of dollars while systematically draining his company of assets. It also accused Minkow of setting up dummy companies, viết bài phony invoices và conducting tours of purported restoration sites. Prosecutors estimated that as much as ninety percent of the company’s revenue was fraudulent. [ 5 ] On June 16, prosecutors won a superseding indictment charging Minkow with credit thẻ fraud và two additional counts of mail fraud. [ 21 ]While Minkow admitted lớn manipulating the company’s stock, he claimed that he was forced Khủng turn the company into a Ponzi scheme under pressure from the organized-crime figures who secretly controlled his company, [ 22 ] a story he later admitted was false. [ ba ] On December 14, he was found guilty on all charges. [ 17 ] On March 27, 1989, he was sentenced mập twenty-five years in prison. He was also placed on five years ‘ probation và ordered phệ pay USD 26 million in restitution. In sentencing him, U.S. District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian described Minkow as a man without a conscience, rejecting his plea for a lighter sentence as ” a joke ” và ” a slap on the wrist ” for someone who had manipulated the financial system. The SEC subsequently banned him from ever serving as an officer or director of a public company again. He served under seven và a half years, most of them at Federal Correctional Institution, Englewood .While imprisoned, Minkow claimed béo have become a born-again Christian. [ 23 ] During his prison stay, he became involved in Christian ministry, completing coursework through Liberty University ‘ s School of Lifelong Learning. [ ba ]
Release[edit]
After his early release from prison in 1995, Minkow went to work as a pastor at the Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth, California, and became director of the church’s Bible Institute.[16] That same year he wrote a first-hand account of the ZZZZ Best scam, Clean Sweep. All of the book’s proceeds went toward repaying his victims.[3] His other substantial debt is a $7 million loan from Union Bank.[24]
In 1997, Minkow became pastor of Community Bible Church in San Diego. Soon after his arrival, a church member asked him to look into a money management firm in nearby Orange County. Suspecting something was amiss, Minkow alerted federal authorities, who discovered the firm was a $300 million pyramid scheme. This was the beginning of the Fraud Discovery Institute (FDI), Minkow’s for-profit investigative firm. His original targets were penny stock companies, which are often havens for fraud. However, he soon attracted the attention of media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Fox News, and CBS’s 60 Minutes. Several Wall Street investors sent money to Minkow in order to persuade him to pursue bigger targets.[25] Minkow claimed to have uncovered $1 billion worth of fraud through the FDI.[26]
Shorting stock[edit]
Minkow’s motives were brought into question by multiple news stories, which concluded that Minkow was shorting stock before he released a report on a public company. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Minkow had engaged in this practice as early as 2006. His critics denounced this practice as unethical, if not illegal. At least one critic accused him of engaging in short and distort, a form of securities fraud which is a reversal of a pump and dump scheme.[27]
For instance, Minkow accused Herbalife of a ” laundry danh sách ” of issues & had ” correctly revealed that Herbalife’s president had inflated his résumé. ” [ 28 ] [ 16 ] Herbalife paid Minkow $ 300,000, [ 28 ] after which he issued a press release withdrawing all accusations và contentions against the company, [ 29 ] và removed all the accusations from his trang web. Additionally, Minkow made $ 50,000 from shorting Herbalife stock. [ 30 ] He continued Khủng profit from his short sales position due lớn sharp decreases in the reported company’s stock price immediately after releasing a hot nhất báo cáo. [ 16 ]On trăng tròn February 2007, Minkow distributed a 500 – page báo cáo béo officials at the SEC, the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI ), và the Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ), accusing USANA of operating an illegal pyramid scheme. [ 31 ] [ 32 ] On the day Minkow’s báo cáo was released, USANA’s shares had traded at $ 61.19 but by August the chia sẻ price had tumbled mập less than USD 35. [ 31 ] [ 33 ] Minkow later acknowledged that he was shorting USANA’s shares, hoping béo profit from a drop in the stock price. [ 34 ]USANA filed lawsuits against Minkow, accusing him of stock manipulation & defamation. However, USANA dropped the defamation suit và a judge later threw out four of the five claims brought against Minkow, ruling that the claims violated California’s anti – SLAPP law for suing Minkow for fair criticism. [ 35 ] The judge also cited two examples where USANA failed béo refute Minkow’s claims that their products were overpriced & of no better unique than other lower-priced brands. [ 36 ] The remaining charge of stock manipulation was settled in July 2008 when USANA và Minkow reached an undisclosed settlement, which included the removal of all USANA-related materials from the FDI trang web, a related Chinese website, và from YouTube. Minkow also agreed bự chưa bao giờ trade in USANA’s stock again. [ 37 ] Separately from the settlement, USANA paid $ 142,510 in attorney fees béo Minkow & the FDI under an order from federal Magistrate Samuel Alba. Court documents show that USANA chưa bao giờ pursued others whom they suspected of being part of the alleged stock manipulation nor did they ask for an injunction, their only avenue of release in this case. [ 36 ]Minkow almost always held a position in securities on which he reported. [ 38 ] However, he has since stated that while his lawyers advised him this practice was legal, it was probably unethical. [ 27 ] Several companies have since sued Minkow for making false accusations against them, with most of the suits being settled out of court. [ 25 ]
Lennar[edit]
In 2009, Minkow issued a báo cáo accusing major homebuilder Lennar of massive fraud, claiming that irregularities in the company’s off-balance-sheet debt accounting were evidence of a massive Ponzi scheme. Minkow accused Lennar of not disclosing enough information about this lớn its shareholders, & also claimed a Lennar executive had taken out a fraudulent personal loan. [ 39 ] In an accompanying YouTube Clip, he denounced Lennar as ” a financial crime in progress ” và ” a corporate bully. ” Lennar’s stock plummeted in the wake of Minkow’s reports, tumbling from $ 11.57 a chia sẻ Khủng $ 6.55 in two weeks. [ 27 ] Minkow issued the báo cáo after being contacted by Nicholas Marsch, a San Diego developer who had filed two lawsuits against Lennar for fraud. Indeed, the language of the FDI báo cáo echoed that used in Marsch’s filings. One of Marsch’s suits was summarily thrown out ; the other ended with Marsch having Khủng pay Lennar $ 12 million in counterclaims. [ 16 ]
Lennar responded by adding Minkow as a defendant in a lawsuit against Marsch. Minkow was initially unconcerned, since he had prevailed before in similar cases on free speech grounds.[27] According to court records, Minkow had shorted Lennar stock, buying $20,000 worth of options in a bet that the stock would fall.[39] Even more seriously, he also bought Lennar stock after his FDI report, believing the stock would rebound after its dramatic plunge.[40] Minkow initially denied doing this, only to be forced to recant when confronted with trading records. Minkow forged documents alleging misconduct on Lennar’s part and lied about having to go to the emergency room on the night before he was first scheduled to testify. He also went forward with the report even after a private investigator he had hired for the case could not substantiate Marsch’s claims. In an unrelated development, it was also revealed that Minkow operated the FDI out of the offices of his church and even used church money to fund the organization—something which could have jeopardized his church’s tax-exempt status.[16]
On December 27, 2010, Florida Circuit Court Judge Gill Freeman issued a mặc định judgment against Minkow in response mập a motion by Lennar. Freeman found that Minkow had repeatedly lied under oath, destroyed or withheld evidence, concealed witnesses, deliberately tried Khủng ” cover up his misconduct “, và had even lied lớn his own lawyers about his behavior. Freeman determined that Minkow had perpetrated ” a fraud on the court ” that was so sánh egregious that letting the case go any further would be a disservice mập justice. In her view, ” no remedy short of mặc định ” was appropriate for Minkow’s lies. She ordered Minkow béo reimburse Lennar for the legal expenses it incurred while ferreting out his lies. According lớn legal experts, terminating sanctions such as mặc định judgments are extremely rare, since they are reserved for particularly egregious misconduct & have the effect of revoking a litigant’s right Khủng defend himself. Earlier, Freeman had been so sánh angered by Minkow’s behavior that she called him a liar in open court, a rarity for a judge. Lennar estimated that its attorneys và investigators spent hundreds of millions of dollars exposing Minkow’s lies. [ 41 ] [ 42 ]
Insider trading guilty plea[edit]
On March 16, 2011, Minkow announced through his attorney that he was pleading guilty Khủng one count of insider trading. According bự his lawyer, Minkow had bought his Lennar options using ” nonpublic information. ” The plea, which was separate from the civil suit, came a month after Minkow learned he was the subject of a criminal investigation. On the same day, Minkow resigned as senior pastor of Community Bible Church, saying in a letter Khủng his congregants that since he was no longer ” above reproach, ” he felt that he was ” no longer qualified bự be a pastor. ” Six weeks earlier, $ 50,000 in cash và checks had been stolen from the church during a burglary. Though unsolved, it was noted as suspicious due lớn Minkow’s admitted history of staging burglaries mập collect insurance money. [ 39 ] [ 43 ] [ 44 ] [ 45 ]The nature of the ” nonpublic information ” became clear a week later, when federal prosecutors in Miami filed a criminal information charging Minkow with one count of conspiracy phệ commit securities fraud. Prosecutors charged that Minkow and Marsch ( listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the complaint ) conspired béo extort money from Lennar by driving lao dốc its stock. The complaint also revealed that Minkow had sent his allegations bự the SEC, the FBI, & the IRS, và that the three agencies found his claims credible enough béo open a formal criminal investigation into Lennar’s practices. Minkow then used confidential knowledge of that investigation lớn short Lennar stock, even though he knew he was barred from doing so sánh. [ 46 ] [ 47 ] [ 48 ] Minkow opted béo plead guilty mập the conspiracy charge rather than face charges of securities fraud & market manipulation, which could have sent him béo prison for life. [ 49 ]On March 30, 2011, Minkow pleaded guilty before Judge Patricia A. Seitz. His attorney, Alvin Entin, admitted that his client had acted recklessly, but had been ” deluded & taken advantage of ” by Marsch. He faced a maximum of five years in prison, as much as $ 350,000 in fines & penalties & USD 500 million in restitution. However, he agreed béo cooperate with the government in its probe of Marsch. [ 50 ] [ 51 ] [ 52 ]
The Los Angeles Times obtained a copy of the plea agreement, in which Minkow admitted to issuing his FDI report on Lennar at Marsch’s behest. According to the agreement, Marsch offered to have Minkow retract his report if Lennar paid him in cash and stock. It also said that Minkow’s report triggered a bear raid which temporarily reduced the market capitalization of Lennar by $583 million. Minkow faced a minimum of thirty years in prison had the case gone to trial.[53] On June 16, Freeman ordered Minkow to pay Lennar $584 million in damages—roughly the amount the company lost as a result of the bear raid orchestrated by Minkow and Marsch. Her ruling stated that Minkow and Marsch had entered into a conspiracy to wreck Lennar’s stock in November 2008.[52] With interest, the bill could easily approach a billion dollars—far more than Minkow stole in the ZZZZ Best scam.[54]
On July 6, it emerged that officials with Community Bible Church had accused Minkow of running the FDI with church funds, applying for credit cards in the names of church members & leading his flock into bad investments. Church officials had made the claims as part of a confidential pre-sentencing báo cáo. When Entin got thế giới of the letter, he asked for & was granted two weeks béo Reviews the allegations & respond béo them. This pushed Minkow’s sentencing back béo July 21. [ 55 ] [ 56 ] This was the second giây phút Minkow’s sentencing had been postponed ; it was originally slated for June 16 but was postponed Khủng July 6 .In a pre-sentencing evaluation performed on May 10, 2011, Minkow was diagnosed by a Michael Brannon as having a personality disorder with antisocial & narcissistic features, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety disorder, opioid dependence, anabolic steroid abuse, và migraine headaches. [ 57 ]On July 21, Seitz sentenced Minkow phệ five years in prison. In imposing the sentence, she stated that Minkow had ” no moral compass that says ‘ Stop. ‘ ” Seitz also ordered him Khủng pay Lennar $ 583.5 million in restitution — an amount that had been imposed a month earlier in the civil case. [ 26 ] [ 55 ] [ 58 ] She also recommended that Minkow serve his sentence at Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery in Montgomery, Alabama. However, on September đôi mươi, he was ordered Khủng begin his sentence at Federal Medical Center, Lexington in Lexington, Kentucky. [ 59 ]
Church fraud guilty plea[edit]
On June 14, 2011 ; KGTV in San Diego interviewed several members of Minkow’s former church, who said Minkow swindled them. One woman said Minkow asked her for $ 300,000, purportedly phệ help finance a movie about his redemption story. [ 60 ]On January 22, năm trước, Minkow pleaded guilty Khủng one count each of conspiracy Khủng commit ngân hàng fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud và mập defraud the federal government. He admitted Khủng embezzling kết thúc USD ba million in donations béo Community Bible Church from 2001 Khủng 2011. He opened unauthorized ngân hàng accounts purportedly on the church’s behalf, forged signatures on church checks, diverted money from legitimate church accounts for his personal use, & charged unauthorized personal expenses on church credit cards. He also concealed $ 890,000 of income & $ 250,000 in taxes from the IRS. [ 61 ] [ 62 ] Among his victims were a widower who gave $ 75,000 bự fund a supposed hospital in Sudan mập honor his wife after she died of cancer, và a woman who gave Minkow $ 300,000 that would have otherwise gone lớn help raise her teenage granddaughter. [ 63 ]On April 28, năm trước, Judge Michael Anello sentenced Minkow phệ five years in prison, the maximum possible sentence under his plea bargain. It is lớn be served after Minkow completes his sentence for securities fraud. While Minkow’s attorneys asked for a sentence of forty-one months, Anello felt obligated lớn impose the maximum for what he called a ” despicable, inexcusable crime. ” [ 64 ] On June 2, Minkow reached an agreement with federal prosecutors that called for him phệ pay $ 3.4 million in restitution. [ 65 ] This will potentially be a ruinous amount for Minkow, on top of the restitution he still owes Lennar, Union Bank & the ZZZZ Best victims. Earlier, he said that the USD 26 million restitution for the ZZZZ Best scam alone was large enough that he would be viết bài restitution checks bự the victims for the rest of his life. [ 16 ] As a result of his latest sentence, Minkow was released on June 6, 2019 .
Film adaptation và docuseries[edit]
Prior to his 2011 conviction, production began on a film detailing Minkow’s life and redemption. The film, featuring Mark Hamill, Justin Baldoni, Talia Shire and Ving Rhames, was partially funded by donations Minkow solicited from his congregation. Minkow insisted on playing the middle-aged version of himself in the film. Following his arrest, the film’s release was cancelled and work began on a new ending.[66][67][68] The film—retitled Con Man from the original title Minkow—was eventually released in March 2018.[69]
In January 2022, a three-part Discovery+ docuseries, called King of the Con, was released. The series explored how Minkow could reinvent himself and get rich several different times.[70] The miniseries was produced by The Content Group, with Pamela Deutsch serving as executive producer for Discovery+, and has Minkow himself recounting his past, his crimes and the process of reinventing himself.[71]
References[edit]
Further reading[edit]
- Minkow, Barry, Clean Sweep:The Inside Story of the Zzzz Best Scam… One of Wall Street’s Biggest Frauds, ISBN 0-7852-7916-4
- Minkow biography at Fraud Discovery Institute web site (Archived: site closed)
- 60 Minutes segment on Minkow August 27, 2006
Source: https://leowiki.com
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