ZZZZ Best Ceases Operations on Bankruptcy Trustee’s Order

ZZZZ Best, the Reseda carpet-cleaning firm under investigation for allegedly being part of a money-laundering ring, has ceased operations by order of its bankruptcy trustee.

The trustee, Herb Wolas, a Century City attorney, said Wednesday that he ordered ZZZZ Best offices shut down because there was not enough money to pay employees of the firm, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week. ZZZZ Best, which recently had a stock market value of more than $200 million, has only about $30,000 in cash, Wolas said.

From 200 to 300 employees were laid off and 15 offices were closed Tuesday morning, he said. Most all the company’s work was in California, but it also did business in Arizona.

Wolas said ZZZZ Best now has only two employees, Bruce T. Andersen, the company’s interim president, and one other person, whom he would not identify.

Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl F. Gates announced last week that ZZZZ Best and its founder, 21-year-old Barry Minkow, were part of a nationwide conspiracy to launder narcotics profits involving eight other people and four other businesses. Minkow, who gained a reputation as a whiz kid entrepreneur after starting the company in his parents’ garage, resigned as its president earlier this month.

Wolas said that ZZZZ Best’s carpet cleaning operation probably will not reopen, but that he may sell some of the firm’s equipment and other assets.

Wolas said it might take him two months to file a repayment schedule with the bankruptcy court because he is having difficulty assembling ZZZZ Best’s records now that most of them are in the hands of government agencies investigating the money-laundering allegations.