Barry Minkow (born March 17, 1967) was an American teenage entrepreneur who managed to present the front of a successful businessman for a number of years during the 1980s. He was convicted of fraud, and became a prison inmate for over 7 years subsequent to his misdeeds. During his time in prison, Minkow became involved in Christian ministry, which continued after his probationary release from prison in April, 1995. Today he is senior pastor of a San Diego, California church, having publicly renounced and forsaken his previous misdeeds. Minkow is also a recognized fraud expert, and speaks on the subject to university students and the business community in an effort to prevent fraud. March 17 is the 76th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (77th in Leap years). ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar (the link is to a full 1967 calendar). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The 1980s decade refers to the years from 1980 to 1989, inclusive, informally sometimes including the years 1979, 1990 and 1991. ... A Christian is a follower of Jesus, whom they regard as a/the Christ. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Main article: Minister of religion A pastor is the head minister or priest of a Christian church. ... Flag Seal Nickname: Americas Finest City Location Location of San Diego within San Diego County Coordinates , Government County San Diego Mayor City Attorney         City Council District One District Two District Three District Four District Five District Six District Seven District Eight Jerry Sanders Michael Aguirre          Scott Peters Kevin Faulconer... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area  Ranked 3rd  - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 km²)  - Width 250 miles (400 km)  - Length 770 miles (1,240 km)  - % water 4. ...

Beginnings of Zzzz Best

Raised in a culturally Jewish family inside a modest Reseda house within the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, Minkow learned his business manners from his mother's job as a telemarketer. At the age of 15 while a high school sophomore he started his own carpet cleaning company, Zzzz Best, in his parents' garage in Reseda. From its humble beginnings in home carpet cleaning by a few employees, in four years it had 1,400 employees and had begun to specialize in insurance restoration business. His frequent television commercials in the Los Angeles market during 1986-7 featured the then young entrepreneur in business suit with tie, confidently extolling the superiority of Zzzz Best. The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination of these attributes. ... Reseda, California is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. ... San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley in southern California, lying mostly within the city limits of Los Angeles. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ...

Minkow worked hard to form dozens of business contacts. His most important contact was Tom Padgett of Interstate Appraisal Services, an insurance claims adjuster who could get large restoration contracts. He was presented as a business success story in magazines and TV shows. Mayor of Los Angeles Tom Bradley declared a Barry Minkow Day. He lectured in business schools and contributed to Narcotics Anonymous. He had a Ferrari Testarossa and a mansion in Woodland Hills. Zzzz Best' stock rose to $18 (USD) a share on Wall Street, valuing the company at more than $280 million (USD). Insurance, in law and economics, is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of potential financial loss. ... Claims adjuster is a term used to describe someone who evaluates the damage caused to property or people when an insurance related accident occurs. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Angels Location Location within Los Angeles County in the state of California Coordinates , Government State County California Los Angeles County Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 1,290. ... Mayor Tom Bradley of Los Angeles, 1973-1993 Thomas (Tom) Bradley (December 29, 1917 – September 29, 1998) was the mayor of Los Angeles, California from 1973 to 1993 (five terms) and the first African American mayor of that city. ... The official logo of Narcotics Anonymous Narcotics Anonymous (N.A.) is a twelve-step program designed to treat drug addiction, modeled on Alcoholics Anonymous. ... The Ferrari Testarossa is a 12-cylinder mid-engined sports car made by Ferrari, which went into production in 1984 as the successor to the Ferrari 512 BB. The Pininfarina-designed car was radically wide at 77. ... Woodland Hills is a community within the City of Los Angeles. ...

However, behind the scenes his company was nothing more than a front to attract investment for a Ponzi scheme. Zzzz Best did not clean anywhere near as many carpets as claimed but generated a plausible paper trail to fool potential investors. Interstate Appraisal Services was formed as a separate company to support this fraud. Minkow raised money by factoring his accounts receivable for work under contract. One of the first contracts he received was from the Genovese Mafia family. He hired reputable accountants and lawyers to boost his image. Later, upon indictment, he claimed that he had intended to form a legitimate business empire and pay back everything, nobody being the wiser. A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying abnormally high returns (profits) to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from net revenues generated by any real business. ... This article is about the financial term. ... Accounts receivable is one of a series of accounting transactions dealing with the billing of customers which owe money to a person, company or organization for goods and services that have been provided to the customer. ... Genovese may refer to: The Genovese family, the New York Mafia Family once ruled by Vito Genovese. ... The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ... Accountancy (British English) or accounting (American English) is the process of maintaining, auditing, and processing financial information for business purposes. ... British barrister 16th century painting of a civil law notary, by Flemish painter Quentin Massys. ...

Zenith

Zzzz Best went public on the stock market in 1986. When accountants wanted to inspect Zzzz Best's operations, Minkow borrowed fake offices for a tour of Interstate Appraisal Services and used an incomplete building to present a fake restoration job. He used US$2 million to complete the building in twenty days. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

There were signs of problems, but investors chose to ignore them. The company's Chief Financial Officer also owned a florist's business, and that company was accused by customers of having stolen over $92,000 by charging flowers to their credit cards without authorization. Minkow decided to ignore these allegations, and short-sellers including the Feshbach Brothers, took positions betting that the stock would fall.

Magazines and TV shows did not bother to check his background. Investigations by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the FBI, two accounting firms and various individual investigators found nothing. Minkow bribed a security guard to give him access to a newly constructed building in Sacramento, California, so that he could present it to his auditors as a wreck that Zzzz Best had recently finished restoring. Zzzz Best was about to buy rival carpet cleaning company KeyServe when their stock suddenly plunged. Members of the press had been researching the company, and communicating with short-sellers who had done their own research. These investigations indicated that the company's contracts had been largely fictional. The story ran in the Los Angeles Times, and spurred FBI investigation of Minkow's link to the Genovese crime family and white separatists movements. Minkow gave himself up in 1987. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, commonly referred to as the SEC, is the United States governing body which has primary responsibility for overseeing the regulation of the securities industry. ... The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is a Federal police force which is the principal investigative arm of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Trees Location Location of Sacramento in California Government County Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo Geographical characteristics Area     City 99. ... The Los Angeles Times (also known as the LA Times) is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California and distributed throughout the western United States. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Conviction and prison

The court's estimate of the extent of fraud was US$26 million. Eleven Zzzz Best insiders were convicted of fraud alongside Minkow, who got 25 years in prison. He served just under seven and a half years, most of them at Englewood Federal Prison in Jefferson County, Colorado. During his early prison stay in San Pedro, California before his trial, Minkow became a Christian. He earned Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in Church Ministries (with an emphasis on Theology and Apologetics) from Liberty University. In 1996 he earned a Master of Divinity, also from Liberty. Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. ... San Pedro is a community within Los Angeles, California, annexed in 1909 and a major seaport of the area. ... A Christian is a follower of Jesus, whom they regard as a/the Christ. ... Liberty University is a Christian liberal arts university in Lynchburg, Virginia. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

Release and a different path

After Minkow's early release from prison in 1995, he went to work at the Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth, California (near his Reseda childhood home) as Director of the Bible Institute and Pastor of Evangelism. Chatsworth is a community of Los Angeles, bordered by the Santa Susana Mountains and unincorporated Los Angeles County lands to the north, Porter Ranch to the northeast, Northridge to the east, West Hills to the south, and the Simi Hills, Ventura County, Simi Valley, and Chatsworth Lake Manor to the...

Since 1997 he has served as the senior pastor of San Diego's Community Bible Church. As of 2006, Rev. Minkow remains in this position. 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Flag Seal Nickname: Americas Finest City Location Location of San Diego within San Diego County Coordinates , Government County San Diego Mayor City Attorney         City Council District One District Two District Three District Four District Five District Six District Seven District Eight Jerry Sanders (R) Michael Aguirre Scott Peters Kevin... 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Minkow also is an executive at the Fraud Discovery Institute in San Diego, which he helped found. In this capacity, he posed as a potential investor in an investment scheme run by fellow pastor Steve O. Cooper, of the Nu-Way Christian Ministries Inc. of San Diego, then passed the information he received to state and federal authorities. Cooper and his wife had been promising investors returns of 3% a month, and their scheme was shut down by regulators in August 2005. He has similarly investigated the Turning International Ltd. scam by Derek Turner in the Bahamas, Rainmaker Managed Living, MX Factors, and others.

Recent developments

The original judgment on behalf of investors and lenders against Minkow was dismissed in 2002 by U.S. District Court judge Dickran Tevrizian, Minkow's judge at his 1987 sentencing. His probation was also cut short as of the fall of 2002. Currently the former convict's outstanding monetary debt remains with Union Bank of California, with principal and interest totalling around $19 million (USD) as of 2004. Minkow pays up to 30 per cent of his $68,500 (USD) yearly salary each month to the bank, and lives in a modest Imperial Beach, California stucco house so as to continue to be able to repay the debt in at least a partial way. Additionally, the great majority of his speaker's fees go to pay those he had earlier victimized. Minkow has repaid his victims each month for 12 consecutive years. His wife is named Lisa, and they live with two adopted Guatemalan children and three dogs in their southwest San Diego County home. For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Union Bank of California is a US bank. ... In finance, interest has three general definitions. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... View of the Pacific Ocean from Imperial Beach Imperial Beach is a city located in San Diego County, California. ... Official website: http://www. ...

Sources/external links

• Minkow, Barry. Clean Sweep:The Inside Story of the Zzzz Best Scam. . . One of Wall Street's Biggest Frauds ISBN 0785279164
• Community Bible Church/Senior Pastor Barry Minkow (biography)
• Students learn from ex-con
• Barry Minkow biography/Fraud Discovery Institute
• Insights Reap Redemption For a White-Collar Criminal (from the Wall Street Journal)
• California regulators shut down pastor's investment firm, AP 19 August 2005
• Desist and Refrain Order issued to Steve O. Cooper, Sr., Peggy Sue Cooper, Michael E. Stevenson, M.E. Stevenson, Inc., Department of Corrections of the State of California, OAH No. L-2006010092