Barry Minkow

Barry Minkow was the epitome of a rags to riches hero, the CEO of a $240 million company at age 20, a virtual deity in the public eye, and the man who orchestrated and executed one of the most infamous and financially devastating frauds ever to hit the financial world. By age 20, Barry Minkow had turned the carpet cleaning business that he started out of his garage only 4 years earlier into a $240 million company, earning his reputation as the "whiz-kid" of Wall Street. But his meteoric rise came to a sudden and dramatic stop when he was convicted of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars. At age 23, he was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. With a $23 million court-awarded restitution hanging over his head, Barry Minkow decided it was time to make a change. During his 8 year stay in federal prison, Barry came to know Jesus Christ as his personal Savior beginning a life-changing turnaround, he headed down a new path, a path of restitution and come-back. While still in prison, he earned both B.A. and M.A. degrees in church ministries and led prison ministries for fellow inmates. Today, he speaks to the Pentagon, the FBI, law enforcement agencies, accounting firms, and insurance companies informing and educating consumers and professionals about fraudulent activities in the financial arena. He is the author of Clean Sweep: The Inside Story of the Zzzz Best Scam...One of Wall Street's Biggest Frauds and Making It in America: Eighteen Years Old and a Million Dollars, and currently serves as the senior pastor of Community Bible Church in Mira Mesa.