ZZZZ Best was a company set up as a front for a Ponzi scheme.
Its founder, Barry Minkow, was involved in a number of criminal activities, including insurance fraud and check kiting.
Minkow and his business partner Tom Padgett set up a fake company called Interstate Appraisal to swindle millions from financial institutions.
In the end, Minkow was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud. When he was released, he was again convicted of fraud and sentenced to another five years.
The scam was discovered by a woman who was chasing a paper trail due to an overpayment of just a few hundred dollars.