One of the most publicized frauds of the 1980's was Barry Minkow and ZZZ Best Carpet Cleaning. Barry Minkow became a fraud investigator and pastor of a mega church after serving on 7 of 25 years on the ZZZ Best sentence.

There is a lot of literature about Minkow's frauds. Watch the three short videos:

The Fraudster's Perspective - Barry Minkow - Fraud Magazine - May/June 2011

Human Interest: Barry Minnow

Barry Minkow ZZZZ Best CEO Sentenced to 5 Years Anderson Cooper 360

In the second vido Barry Minkow looks like a good guy. To the contrary, despite helping law enforcementon fraud cases and allegedly becoming a minister, Barry Minkow committed two more huge frauds, one associated with insider trading while conducting an investigationand another involving embezzling millions from his church members on bogus schemes. Barry Minkow served five years for the stock manipulation and is currently serving another five years for stealing over $600 million from parishioners. He gets out of prison the third time in 2021.

Question: As you watch (and you may need to do so several times), think of the types of evidence that would be available to uncover the fraud (e.g., checks, deposits, purchase receipts). There were several schemes so be specific in describing the scheme and the evidence you feel would have helped uncover the fraud. What preventive measures should ZZZ Best have used to prevent the scheme? What about being a recidivist?