The Teenage CEO Who Scammed Wall Street: Barry Minkow

Moms and Mysteries: A True Crime Podcast

Moms got ya covered-feed

True Crime

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2026

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

At 16, Barry Minkow started a carpet cleaning company in his parents' garage. By 21, he was one of the youngest CEOs of a publicly traded company in America, with a business valued at over $200 million. But the entire empire was built on a foundation of lies. This is the story of ZZZZ Best, one of the most audacious corporate frauds of the 1980s, and the story of a charismatic young man who fooled auditors, investors, and the media with staged job sites and forged documents. After serving time in federal prison, Barry reinvented himself as a pastor and a fraud investigator, only to find himself back in court, facing new charges of embezzlement and stock manipulation. It's a wild ride through the mind of a master manipulator who couldn't stop scamming. Thank you to this week's sponsors! See why more than 3 million families have chosen K12 – find a K12 Powered School near you today! Enrollment portals are now open. Go to K12.com/MOMS to learn more. New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday! Follow us on Instagram: @momsandmysteries Join our Patreon: patreon.com/momsandmysteries Visit our website: momsandmysteries.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Attention.
0:02.0	Oh, hang on.
0:04.0	Attention.
0:05.0	Rail travellers, platform paces, window gazers and armrest negotiators.
0:10.0	Have you heard? The big railfare freeze is here.
0:14.0	Railfares have been frozen across England until March 2027 on standard class tickets,
0:20.0	including off-peak, anytime, and season tickets.
0:23.4	For more information, visit NationalRail.com.uk-U.K. slash fares for ease.
0:28.3	Teas and season exclusions apply.
0:29.7	At 21 years old, Barry Mincow took his company public and became one of the youngest CEOs in America.
0:36.6	Within five months, it collapsed in one of the
0:38.8	largest corporate frauds of the 1980s. After serving time in federal prison, he became a pastor,
0:45.1	and then he went back to prison.
0:52.7	Hey guys, and welcome to the Moms and Mysteries podcast.
0:56.0	A true crime podcast featuring myself, Mandy, and my dear friend Melissa.
0:59.8	Hi, Melissa.
1:00.5	Hi, Mandy. How are you?
1:01.6	I'm doing well. How are you?
1:03.1	I am doing really well.
1:05.0	The case we were following Corey Richens, the case of, yeah, did you see what happened?
1:10.6	I didn't see exactly what happened.
1:12.4	I just saw the headline.
	...

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