Barry Minkow

Two-time fraud convict Barry Minkow is set to begin his latest prison sentence at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Ky., not the minimum-security work camp in Alabama he had hoped for and a judge had recommended. In an email to The Times, Minkow said prison authorities had ordered him to begin his five-year sentence Wednesday at the Lexington facility that "from the outside looks like Leavenworth Penitentiary. " He had cited severe medical problems in asking a judge for leniency, a factor apparently taken into account by the Federal Board of Prisons.

Two-time fraud convict Barry Minkow is set to begin his latest prison sentence at the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Ky., not the minimum-security work camp in Alabama he had hoped for and a judge had recommended. In an email to The Times, Minkow said prison authorities had ordered him to begin his five-year sentence Wednesday at the Lexington facility that "from the outside looks like Leavenworth Penitentiary. " He had cited severe medical problems in asking a judge for leniency, a factor apparently taken into account by the Federal Board of Prisons.

In a plea bargain, former carpet-cleaning tycoon Barry Minkow has agreed to help federal prosecutors investigate a developer who allegedly hired him to spread lies about giant home builder Lennar Corp. with negative stories on the Internet and a YouTube video. In the plea agreement, obtained by The Times, Minkow acknowledges participating in a fraud with losses so huge that he could have been sentenced to more than 30 years in prison had he been convicted of the crime. Instead, he is to plead guilty in a Miami federal courthouse Wednesday to a single count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, a crime with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Barry Minkow is headed back to prison to serve a five-year sentence for securities fraud, but the ex-con who reinvented himself as a San Diego minister and crime fighter was looking on the bright side of his situation. In his plea bargain to a single count of conspiracy, Minkow admitted that his falsehood-filled attacks on Lennar Corp. had caused the home builder to lose $583 million in stock market value. Because that amount was so huge, he might have been sentenced to 30 years or more had he gone to trial and been convicted instead of pleading guilty.

Barry Minkow is headed back to prison to serve a five-year sentence for securities fraud, but the ex-con who reinvented himself as a San Diego minister and crime fighter was looking on the bright side of his situation. In his plea bargain to a single count of conspiracy, Minkow admitted that his falsehood-filled attacks on Lennar Corp. had caused the home builder to lose $583 million in stock market value. Because that amount was so huge, he might have been sentenced to 30 years or more had he gone to trial and been convicted instead of pleading guilty.

Barry Minkow, a 1980s teen tycoon from Reseda whose ZZZZ Best carpet-cleaning firm turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, resigned as minister at a San Diego County church and intends to plead guilty to a charge of insider trading, according his attorney. The charge stems from a federal investigation in Florida involving a business, the Fraud Discovery Institute, that Minkow set up while guiding Community Bible Church in Mira Mesa. His idea was to reveal corporate fraud while holding short positions in the companies he exposed, allowing him to profit on declines in stock prices.

Barry Minkow's life story makes for a classic Hollywood movie: Teen becomes tycoon, goes to prison for $100-million Ponzi scheme, turns his life around while locked up, becomes a minister and fraud investigator. But a recently completed inspirational drama about the ZZZZ Best carpet cleaning swindler now needs a new ending, as the purportedly reformed Minkow could be headed back to prison for as much as five years after agreeing to plead guilty in an insider-trading case, his attorney said earlier this week.

Barry Minkow's former congregation accused the con man-turned-preacher of misusing church funds and luring its members into bad investments, allegations that forced a two-week delay in sentencing for the admitted two-time fraud artist. San Diego's Community Bible Church said in a letter, part of a confidential pre-sentencing probation report, that Minkow improperly used church funds to finance the fraud-busting business he ran on the side, his defense lawyer said. The letter also attacks Minkow for leading members of his flock to make ill-fated investments in an unreleased movie about his life, said the lawyer, Alvin Entin.

"I am expanding to the hilt, and I have no shame." --From Barry Minkow's "Making It in America." Even as his financial empire was collapsing last summer, Barry Minkow planned to host a television show designed to counter the negative image of America's younger generation. A brochure for "Class of Tomorrow," which was being marketed by two producers to various networks, hailed the 21-year-old Wunderkind as nothing less than "what tomorrow's youth is all about."

Barry Minkow, a former Wall Street con artist who went on to build a reputation as an anti-fraud fighter, was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for a securities swindle targeting U.S. homebuilder Lennar Corp . As part of his sentence, Minkow, 45, was also ordered by a Florida judge to pay $583.6 million in restitution to Lennar for his confessed role in spreading lies about the Miami-based company that caused its stock price to plummet...

As Barry Minkow prepared to be sentenced a second time for securities fraud, he appeared in a familiar role: repentant, apologetic, acknowledging deep character flaws and expressing hope he can transform himself for the better yet again. "The truth about me is I am a 45-year-old loser, and I am so very sorry for what I have done," Minkow wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Seitz of Miami, who was to sentence him early Thursday for conspiring to manipulate the stock of home builder Lennar Corp.

Barry Minkow's former congregation accused the con man-turned-preacher of misusing church funds and luring its members into bad investments, allegations that forced a two-week delay in sentencing for the admitted two-time fraud artist. San Diego's Community Bible Church said in a letter, part of a confidential pre-sentencing probation report, that Minkow improperly used church funds to finance the fraud-busting business he ran on the side, his defense lawyer said. The letter also attacks Minkow for leading members of his flock to make ill-fated investments in an unreleased movie about his life, said the lawyer, Alvin Entin.

Key events in the legal battle swirling around the Bridges: August 1997: Home builder Lennar Corp. and developer Nicolas Marsch III form a partnership to develop a luxury golf community, the Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe. December 2006: Marsch's Briarwood Capital sues Lennar for fraud and breach of contract. Two months later, Lennar countersues. July 2008: Marsch writes to Lennar directors, threatening to expose "dirty little secrets" if they don't settle with him. Lennar sues Marsch, alleging extortion.

In a plea bargain, former carpet-cleaning tycoon Barry Minkow has agreed to help federal prosecutors investigate a developer who allegedly hired him to spread lies about giant home builder Lennar Corp. with negative stories on the Internet and a YouTube video. In the plea agreement, obtained by The Times, Minkow acknowledges participating in a fraud with losses so huge that he could have been sentenced to more than 30 years in prison had he been convicted of the crime. Instead, he is to plead guilty in a Miami federal courthouse Wednesday to a single count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, a crime with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Barry Minkow's life story makes for a classic Hollywood movie: Teen becomes tycoon, goes to prison for $100-million Ponzi scheme, turns his life around while locked up, becomes a minister and fraud investigator. But a recently completed inspirational drama about the ZZZZ Best carpet cleaning swindler now needs a new ending, as the purportedly reformed Minkow could be headed back to prison for as much as five years after agreeing to plead guilty in an insider-trading case, his attorney said earlier this week.