Convicted Felon Barry Minkow on Cavuto Talking About IRS Phishing Scams
Only in this country can somebody who has been convicted of fraud on a multi-million dollar level, spent the majority of their adult life in prison, found Jesus and turned jailhouse preacher, get released and wind up on Fox News chatting with Neil Cavuto as if they were old college fraternity buddies.
While it’s highly unlikely that Cavuto would welcome an African American with the same background, it didn’t stop Cavuto from pandering to the nefarious Barry Minkow (of Jewish background, now born again Christian) who is today’s “American Liar” and is an auspicious figure in the world of fraud.
From the Wikipedia entry on Minkow:
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As a young teenager Minkow was a fraudulent entrepreneur who managed to present the front of a successful businessman for a number of years during the 1980s. His company, ZZZZ Best (pronounced “Zee Best”) appeared to be an immensely successful carpet-cleaning company. The company’s 1987 collapse cost investors an estimated $100 million. He was convicted of fraud and several other offenses and sentenced to 25 years in prison, but served only seven years. During his time in prison, Minkow became involved in Christian ministry, which continued after his probationary release from prison in April 1995.
Today he is senior pastor of the Community Bible Church in San Diego, California, having renounced his felonious acts. Minkow is recognized as an expert on fraud, and speaks on the subject to university students and the business community in an effort to prevent fraud. …more here…. |
Minkow was on Cavuto today talking about Phishing schemes regarding IRS tax return scams. I thought people who committed crimes in this country were forbidden from making a living from their crimes? Wasn’t there an issue with John Wayne Gacy selling his infamous clown paintings he did while in prison? Wasn’t Kevin Mitnick forbidden to be in posession of a computer after his arrest for hacking?
Barry Minkow is and always will be a convicted felon, his Fraud Discovery Institute is a slap in the face of the American public who shelled out the tax dollars to convict and send this habitual criminal to prison the first time around. Not only is Minkow profiting from his former crimes, citing himself as an “expert” in matters of fraud, he’s left his natural born Jewish faith behind to become a born-again Christian. The more you read about Barry Minkow, the more his current profile he is building reeks of an elaborate con job, especially this part tacked onto the end of his biography, “Minkow and his wife Lisa live with two adopted Guatemalan children in north San Diego County, California.”
The most dispicable part of Neil Cavuto’s segment today was the part when Cavuto was pandering to Minkow and said Minkow, the scammer turned scambuster, has more than “done his pennance” and that Minkow might be in the running for a new television series related to consumer fraud.
Wonderful message this sends to the children of this country. Commit multi-million dollar white collar fraud. Get sentenced to prison for your crimes and when you get out you’re an expert on the type of crimes you commit and you’ll get to appear on Fox news and get a television series of your own. Don’t forget to find Jesus in your jail cell, and adopt a couple of third world country kids.
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At the end where you state “Don’t forget to find Jesus in your jail cell, and adopt a couple of third world country kids.”
- You forgot to add, “make sure the color of your skin is white.”
White collar crime gets slap on the wrist (and a pass if you’re white) in this ignorant country we live in. Ask all the people who supported Stanley “Tookie” Williams’ defense.
You do remember “Tookie”, the former gangbanger who spent over 16 years as an inmate on San Quentin’s Death Row and was eventually executed. Tookie was devoted to writing children’s books to help keep young African Americans out of gangs and the prison system.
Were Tookie’s crimes that he committed against other gang members (or soldiers as he called them) as reprehensible as Minkows ?
Did Minkow’s crimes hurt individuals? Yes.
Did Minkow’s crimes hurt the community? Yes.
So why does Minkow get a free pass? Simple, it’s all about the color of his skin. His Jewish background and conversion to Christianity probably didn’t hurt his release process also.
This guy should never be allowed to present himself as a community leader or business owner and it is a shame Fox News even allows an ex-felon like this on their program to discuss fraud.
I think the whole point of even writing this blog is to help people get over stupid cultural values so that we - as humankind - can stop seeing ourselves as a “color” or “religion” and start seeing ourselves as “one race” and each human as an essential piece of the puzzle.
Beyond being an American, I’m a part of the human race and a “world citizen” and the events taking place on my planet and in my country have me really pissed off.
Maybe growing up in the 1980’s made me colorblind but the funny thing about being colorblind is you are constantly reminded of the people who see color that they see it. The thing that upsets me the most is people who are at odds over religion. Granted, I believe in a God or supreme being but from a scientific standpoint, the existence of God has never been proven. To fight over religion, to me, is idiotic.
Given all that. I will always remember what my grandmother used to say “Let a thief in the house and be sure to count the silverware after they’ve left”.
I’m only a few years younger than Barry Minkow and I don’t think it’s fair or right that he is presented with this opportunity by Fox News and Neil Cavuto when there are so many other people who are specialists on “Internet Fraud”, more so than Barry Minkow because he was involved in corporate fraud. Cavuto could have pulled some engineer from any anti-spam or anti-phishing organization over Minkow who has no depth in the field. It was all a shameless plug for Minkow’s upcoming show, or meant as a litmus test to see how the people who were paying attention to the segment reacted.
First off let me say that i really like your site www.theamericanlie.org a lot
now.. back to business hehe
I cant say that fully agree with what you typed up… care to clear things up for me?