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Barry Minkow

Please vote to return to collections.

Outlaw

The Resume

    (March 17, 1967- )
    Born in Reseda, California
    Founded the carpet cleaning company ZZZZ Best (1983)
    Defrauded investors of $100 million

Why he might be annoying:

    When carpet cleaning did not bring in enough money, he resorted to check kiting, fraudulent credit card charges, staging a break-in at his offices and stealing his grandmother's jewelry.
    He then faked a series of insurance restoration jobs and turned ZZZZ Best into a Ponzi scheme to fleece investors.
    To fool investors, he created phony paper trails, established a fake appraisal company to vouch for his jobs, and presented other companies' restoration jobs as ZZZZ Best's.
    An LAPD investigation found evidence that ZZZZ Best was used to launder money for narcotics dealers.
    After being arrested, he found God and became born again.

Why he might not be annoying:

    At 18, he became the youngest person to take a company public (January, 1986).
    Being born again seems to have stuck, as he established a prison ministry and continued as a pastor after his release.
    He and his wife adopted two children from Guatemala.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 8 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 85.71% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 92 Votes: 53.26% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 20 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 8 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 22 Votes: 45.45% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 26 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 18 Votes: 61.11% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 23 Votes: 73.91% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 27 Votes: 62.96% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 65 Votes: 69.23% Annoying