Synopses & Reviews
With WorldCom, Enron, Global Crossings, and even Martha Stewart in the headlines, big business scandals are big news, and consumers want to know what can be done to avoid and even stop corporate fraud. In this eye-opening book, Barry Minkow, the one-time Wall Street wiz kid who rocked the financial world with one of its biggest scams, tells the riveting true story of how he turned from con to cop, turning his skills to outing crooks and investment scams, and even training FBI agents to do the same. Part autobiography, part expose, and part wake-up call, Cleaning Up is a fast-paced trip into the world of corporate crime, investment scams, pyramid schemes, and accounting fraud with billions of dollars at stake. It follows Minkow through his multimillion dollar scheme, his stay in prison, and the life-changing events that followed -- events that led to Minkow's becoming a pastor and cofounder of the Fraud Discovery Institute, where he has, to date, uncovered over a billion dollars worth of fraud. In Cleaning Up, Minkow reveals . . .How he busted the nation's longest-running pyramid schemeWhat he trains FBI agents to look for in scams and bogus businessesThe psychology and self-justification of scammersHow you can avoid getting ripped off
Cleaning Up will appeal to liberals as well as conservatives, as it takes shots at big business and shows how corporate crime is definitely not a victimless crime.
Synopsis
Before he was even old enough to drink, he had bank accounts, a Ferrari, a mansion, a multi-million dollar corporation, and a desperate little secret . . . it was all a lie. Most of us can't imagine life getting much worse than it got for Barry Minkow, the one-time Wall Street wiz kid who catapulted his company to stardom and success only to see it exposed as a $300-million fraud. Most of us can't imagine spending more than seven years in federal prison and coming out owing victims $26 million. Most of us can't imagine our careers changing from FBI target to FBI trainer, from CEO to senior pastor, from con man to con catcher. Or can we? We've all slipped up. We've all failed. Cleaning Up is Barry Minkow's comeback story-a powerful a tale of redemption and inspiration, of second chances and setting things right. More than a decade from defrauding investors, today, as cofounder of the Fraud Discovery Institute, he's uncovered over a billion dollars worth of investment scams.