The question is rhetoric because we all know that the answer is NO. Barry Minkow is a pathological liar whose whole life is nothing but a sham. But lets concede that he is exceedingly good at telling lies, if nothing else. Not only had he made his fortune by lying to the reporters, public, investors and even to Oprah way back in 1980s, once his empire of deceit collapsed, he lied his way back into the public life again, this time with impunity.
Once hailed as the whiz kid of Wall Street, he had media and investors eating out of his hands with his smooth talk. His business, ZZZZ Best, was financed through check kiting, stealing and selling his grandmother's jewelry, staging break-ins at his offices, and running up fraudulent credit card charges. In fact, it was nothing besides an elaborate ponzi scheme which was also being used to launder money that came from the sale of narcotics.
In January 1988,
Barry Minkow and eleven other ZZZZ Best insiders were indicted on 54 counts and he was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison. While reading out judgement, U.S. District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian described Minkow as a man without a conscience.
However, even before he was brought to trail, Minkows mind was busy working on another elaborate ruse. He became involved in Christian Ministry and claimed that he had put his past behind. His change of heart, which was once again lapped up eagerly by media and public alike, was nothing more that another elaborate scheme to win respectability only to be used as a ruse to make some fast buck.
After his early release from prison in 1995, Minkow started working for the Church at Rocky Peak in Chatsworth, California as Director of the Bible Institute and Pastor of Evangelism. He also set up a Fraud Discovery Institute in San Diego which was to work as a faade behind which he would carry on his fraudulent activities.
His new game plan was to short the stock before releasing report on a public company.
Barry Minkow profited from his short sales position as immediately after releasing a new report, the reported company's stock price would crash.
