Con Man Page #8

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there, you can call the bank.

It's clear funds,

waiting to wire.

Well, thank you for coming, Pastor.

I look forward to working with you.

Well, I do appreciate

you seeing me,

and just as soon as you

send Don Scott his $250,000,

we'll wire these funds

right to your bank account.

It's just that, Mr. Scott had

requested a $250,000 withdrawal,

and apparently in your move

to the Bahamas...

You tell Mr. Scott, he'll

have his money in 24 hours.

Thank you for coming.

Terrific. Mr. Lewis,

thank you so much

for your time.

Well, hey, Don,

good to see you.

Hey, Barry. Well, Lewis wired

me half my money this morning.

Half?

Yeah.

He said that the custodian of American

Investment didn't put in my paperwork,

so he sent it

out of his own pocket,

and he said he'd wire me

the other half very soon.

You know, Don, I may

have underestimated just how

strapped for cash

Mr. Lewis is.

Why would he risk

five million new fresh dollars

by sending only half of what

he promised just days ago?

There's only

one answer to that.

And that is, he doesn't

have the full amount,

and he is much more cash-strapped

than I first anticipated.

You're beginning

to worry me, Barry.

Look, Don, I don't want you to worry

about a thing. I got this under control.

Okay? Trust me on this.

It'll be okay.

I'll take care of it.

Hello?

Pastor Minkow, Derek Lewis.

My understanding was you were

going to deposit your church money

two days after Mr. Scott

got his withdrawal fund.

It's my understanding that Mr. Scott

only received half of his funds.

Well, there was a problem

with the paperwork.

He'll get the balance

tomorrow or the next day.

Terrific. And once he does, the church

will wire the funds as I had promised.

Hey, that's my money. I

control who gets paid and when.

No ex-con's gonna

run a number on me.

You know something, Mr. Lewis, you're

not as smart as you think you are.

I know exactly

what you're doing.

You have no idea what

you're talking about.

The beauty of grace is that

good people don't go to heaven,

forgiven people

go to heaven.

That's the...

Barry, what is going on?

Excuse me a second. Just

relax for a minute. Excuse me.

Just relax for a minute,

would you, Mike

I'm gonna punch you

in the face

the next time you tell

me to relax, all right?

Derek Lewis is suing my

uncle for $10 million,

for fraud

and misrepresentation.

Yeah, I know. He's doing the

same thing to me and the church.

The cost for the suit

is gonna wipe them out!

Okay, I need you to stop doing

what you are doing. Okay?

They've got half their money back.

That's as good as they're gonna get.

Just walk away.

I can't, Mike.

There's a lot more at stake

than what you're thinking.

It's gonna be okay.

Just trust me.

Trust you. Where have

I heard that before?

Trusting you

ruined my life, Barry.

Barry's intentions were

always good, at least according to him.

But he had a lack

of regard for the law

and eventually,

that became an issue.

But Barry was

very hard to say no to.

You don't have to convince me

your intentions are good, Barry.

I know you've been making

restitution, even from prison.

I owe this community a lot more than

just money, Michael, you know that.

Yes, but what you're

asking me to do, I cannot do.

I might lose my job.

Look, Michael, I got Mr. Lewis

on tape saying he has $800 million

in his accounts at this bank

and if he does, that's wonderful.

But if he doesn't, he's in

the process of destroying

the lives of thousands of

people in this community.

I need your help.

I can't just...

We can't just

let that happen.

All I want you to do is

check the balances.

If they're nowhere

near $800 million,

then just get out of that

chair, walk over to that window,

look outside

and then I'll know for sure.

All I need are those balances.

Please, Michael, I'll leave either way.

All the investment company's accounts

are tied to this tax ID number.

You have to help me here.

You have to believe in me.

Please.

Man, looks like

it's going to rain.

Gamble had me do some digging the

past few days on my lunch break.

What's this?

Articles of incorporation from

a Tijuana company called Olacane.

It's Dowry's cash cow.

They get all their factoring

contracts from there.

It's run by some guy

named Oliveros.

They operate out of

300 square feet

and share a secretary

with three other businesses.

The restoration equivalent

of my Ponzi scheme.

No way that a 300 square-foot

office in Mexico can substantiate

hundreds of millions

in factoring business.

Gamble says,

"Merry Christmas."

Hello?

Mr. Lewis,

this is Barry Minkow calling.

How'd you get this number?

You have your spies.

I have mine.

What do you want?

I'd like to meet you in

Los Angeles tomorrow

and I'd like you to bring

the rest of Don Scott's money.

You gotta be joking.

5:
00 p. m., LA Resort Hotel.

Unless of course you'd like me to

take the information I've obtained

and turn it over to the FBI

or the Journal.

And what do you have

on me, Mr. Minkow?

There's only $387,000

in your bank accounts

instead of the $800 million

that you purport to have.

You just wait a minute.

You, Mr. Lewis,

are running a Ponzi scheme.

No, you're the ex-con.

You're running the scam.

I'm doing the work of God.

Hey, I said wait a minute.

Protecting the weak.

I'll see you tomorrow,

LA Resort Hotel, 5:00 p. m.

Good night, Mr. Lewis.

Lisa, I wanted

to tell you something,

but I wanted to make sure

that it came out right.

So I wanted to be careful.

Barry, for once in your life,

don't speak, okay?

Look, I just

want to say that

I see the people who always

second-guess your motives.

I see them. I see the people

who always raise an eyebrow.

And I know that

you struggle, okay?

I know that you

struggle knowing that

most people deep down will

never trust a word that you say.

I mean, 'cause

let's be real, Barry,

most people will walk away, most people

are going to just shake their heads

and steer clear of you and

think that you're a con forever.

But that's not me.

I appreciate that

more then you'll ever know.

I got nothing to offer you but

a $26 million restitution order

and suspicious glares

and grins every time

I walk by with you

in some public arena.

But I will tell you this,

if I had to serve eight

Super Bowls in prison again,

and knew that you'd be

waiting for me when I got out,

I would go

right back to prison.

Look, uh...

I can do this, right?

Yeah. I know

you can do this.

Go get 'em.

I don't trust you, Minkow.

Hey, I'm here to work with

you. I'm not a bad guy.

I'm a liar and a sinner

saved by grace.

Stop it.

There's a lot of people

involved with this fund.

Heavy hitters.

It's not just me.

Listen, if you hurt me,

this goes to the FBI

and the Journal.

I don't want to hurt you.

I just need you to back off.

Well, I guess this won't be

going to the FBI or the Journal.

But tell me, getting this much

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