Local News in Brief : No Plea From Minkow
Carpet-cleaning entrepreneur Barry Minkow refused to enter a plea Monday to a new fraud indictment stemming from the collapse of his Reseda company, ZZZZ Best, because he wants to challenge the validity of the charges, his attorney said.
Defense attorney David Kenner alleged after the federal court hearing that prosecutors dropped racketeering charges in a bid to “tailor the indictment to prevent the truth and the defense from coming out.”
Kenner has indicated that Minkow, 22, will claim that mobsters used threats and extortion to control his company. Law enforcement officials allege that Minkow himself directed much of the fraud that yielded millions of dollars through bank loans and public stock sales.
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