Con Man Page #4

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we come in for a lot more

than a hundred, you know.

A lot more.

We split profit,

you know? 50/50.

"50/50"?

All the jobs.

If you're interested.

Yeah. Yeah! Yeah, of course,

I'm interested.

The proof, the documents,

I can bring those by tomorrow.

You want a drink?

Nah, I don't drink.

Good for you.

You're a smart kid.

This is unacceptable.

You don't understand.

No, no, you don't understand.

You got those credit card

accounts because I vouched for you!

Twenty-five thousand

in fraudulent accounts!

Look it wasn't me! I swear!

Barry.

It was crooked

carpet cleaners! Look...

They want me out of

business... Keep it down.

Look, they faked

the credit card slips

so they could double-bill the

customers and make more money.

What do you want me to do?

I just found out about this

last night. I already fired them.

Were you planning

on telling me?

Yes... I guess...

You guess?

Yes, yes, yes.

Of course I was planning on...

Look, I'm a little

over my head here, Bill.

Mr. Fitzgerald, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

All right.

I can keep your accounts open

for five business days.

You deposit $10,000

at that time

and the rest five days

after that...

I won't let you down.

You better meet

these deadlines, Barry.

Otherwise, I will

shut you down

and I will bounce

all your checks.

This is a joke to you, huh?

That would put me

out of business.

I know.

So it should motivate you.

Now, get the hell out of here.

Hey, I need your help.

Look, we need to find a way to fake

some nonexistent restoration jobs.

All right? I'm not talking

about staging a phony break-in.

I'm talking about hundreds of thousands

of dollars in jobs that don't exist.

Got any ideas?

I can incorporate

a phony adjusting firm.

A phony adjusting firm.

So, what, it would fake the

jobs on the firm's letterhead?

Yeah.

That's great.

That's great! Okay.

And in the meantime,

I'll work hard

trying to get ZZZZ Best some

legitimate claims to cover your back.

I'll catch you

in your office later.

Okay, okay. Thank you.

I really appreciate this. I wouldn't

ask you if it wasn't life or death.

I got 100 employees

depending on me.

Well, they're your problem.

I'm just doing this

for money, is all.

As long as you do it.

So, he's still standing there,

in his underwear, holding

an identical toothbrush.

So, I tell the guy,

as we always say at ZZZZ Best,

"We don't just cut corners,

we clean them."

Can I trust him?

Absolutely.

So, let me explain to you

how a restoration job works.

All right, gorgeous woman.

Come here.

You be the building.

Stand here

next to me. All right?

Come here! Come on. I'm...

What about the Feds?

Huh?

Did they come see you yet?

Who?

The FBI.

The FBI... No.

No?

No.

Well... They might,

you know.

They'll probably pay you

a visit.

Ask questions about me.

Well, if they do,

just say nothing more

than our arrangement,

you know?

"Our arrangement"?

Yeah, it's legitimate.

You could prove that.

Can't you?

Yeah, yeah.

Of course.

Of course I can prove it.

Hey, how you doing?

How are you?

Hi.

Hi. Hey, baby. I got a

present for you inside. Okay?

Okay.

I'll be in in a second.

Can I help you?

Yeah, you can. I'll

introduce myself to you first.

I'm Special Agent Gamble. FBI.

That's your girlfriend?

Yeah.

Very nice. Good luck.

Thank you.

Anyway, I'm here,

I'm investigating a Jack...

Saxon.

Yes. Jack Saxon.

I understand he's been

shaking you down

on some loan

that he made you...

He hasn't given me a loan,

he's a business consultant.

"Business consultant"?

New house, huh?

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Look, we'd like you

to testify in a grand jury

about your business deals

with this Saxon.

With all due respect, why

would I testify against him?

He's been nothing

but a help to my company.

I understand.

It's not...

Barry? Come on inside.

Come on.

Sorry. Duty calls. It was nice

to meet you, Mr. Special Agent...

Gamble.

Gamble.

Thank you, Mr. Mincow.

It's Minkow.

There was a cockiness,

I was cocky. Barry was cocky.

Everything we did just

seemed to fall nto place.

It was almost like we were beinglooked

over by some guardian angel.

In fact, there were more

people that didn't believe Barry

than the ones that did.

But he only needed a couple.

Altogether,

I think the FBI said

I created about 23,000

false documents

to convince Wall Street,

NASDAQ and the SEC

that we were doing about $400

million worth of restoration work

when in reality,

we were doing none.

Barry was working with

the investment banking firm

of Payne Cameron

to take ZZZZ Best public.

However, Barry and Jack Saxon had

a side scheme to pump and dump,

acquiring ZZZZ Best stock

at five cents apiece,

selling at the market price

and violating securities laws.

The biggest scam we pulled

off was the Sacramento job.

Barry staged a walkthrough of

a newly-restored office building

to fool

the Wall Street auditors

into believing that ZZZZ Best

had done

all of the restoration work.

We hadn't done

any of that work.

He even bribed the doorman a

hundred bucks to make it look good.

Hey, Mr. Minkow!

Nice to see you again!

Bob, how are you? How's

the wife? Still alive.

That's too bad.

Say hi to the kids for me.

You got it!

Just like family. Everyone

at ZZZZ Best is like family.

A con man has a

tremendous amount of charisma.

Smell it and say

to the woman,

"Ma'am, that's not dog urine.

That's your three-year-old."

What's this ladder doing here? Mike,

please find out who was here last.

Doesn't even look like there

was any water damage at all.

Well, that's the point.

See, he doesn't take

your money. You give it to him.

Gentlemen, attached, you

will find our project summary.

As you can see, we went

with the cost-effective

nylon carpet to save time,

and, most importantly,

your money.

It's theft

with a smile.

Once the Wall Street auditors

signed off on our financials,

Payne Cameron

took ZZZZ Best public.

By the end of the day, we had a

market cap of well over $300 million.

Truth be told,

we were worth almost nothing.

This is tremendous. Where's Barry? Dad.

Hey, Barry, we saw you

on Oprah.

Hey! I stole the show, right?

Listen, I want Carson.

I want to be on Johnny Carson!

What's this?

It's the Tribune! Read it!

"Happy Birthday, Barry Minkow.

"Your stock is worth

$100 million!

"You control a $300 million

public company"!

Hey, everybody!

Enough with this cheap stuff.

Hey, you, I don't even

know you.

Go buy me the most expensive

champagne you can find.

Five hundred bottles.

Drinks on me, everybody!

So, you're

the birthday kid, huh?

Uh...

I'm not a kid. All of these

people here work for me.

Well, I don't work for you.

Okay, who are you?

My name is Sam.

Sam, that's a guy's name.

You better be careful.

I might just decide this

party is a bore and leave.

Who invited you?

Happy birthday, Barry.

See you later.

Whoa. Babe.

Dude, stop. Stop.

Where's Mindy?

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