Barry Minkow

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/barry-minkow

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. When was Barry Minkow born?March 22, 1966
2. Where was Barry Minkow born?Los Angeles, California
3. What is the ZZZZ best collapse year?1987
4. What is the total restitution owed?$612 million
5. What was ZZZZ Best and why did it become famous?ZZZZ Best was a carpet cleaning company started by Barry Minkow while he was still in high school. It grew very quickly and seemed very successful, so many people wanted to invest in it.
6. How did Barry Minkow trick people with ZZZZ Best?He made fake financial statements and fake invoices, and used money from new investors to pay earlier investors, creating a Ponzi scheme that looked like a real business.

Ponzi Scheme: An investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors, requiring a constant flow of new money to survive.
Stock Manipulation: An illegal practice of artificially inflating or deflating the price of a stock to mislead investors.
Restitution: The legal obligation to repay or compensate victims for losses incurred due to criminal activity.