This post is part of a series on some of the most memorable companies that have disappeared.

In the mid-1980s, Barry Minkow was the toast of Wall Street. His Zzzz Best Carpet Cleaning company, which he started in his garage at age 16, was an overnight success and, by 19, he was a millionaire. Investors flocked to buy stock in the fast-growing company that was earning millions from lucrative restoration projects.

There was just one problem: the restoration projects weren't real, the company was little more than an elaborate Ponzi scheme, and Minkow wasn't making his money cleaning carpets. He was laundering money for the mob. After a Los Angeles Times reporter broke the story on Minkow's fraud, the scheme unraveled and Zzzz Best filed for bankruptcy. Minkow was charged with pretty much every white-collar crime known to man, and he spent seven and a half years in federal prison.

But that's only the beginning of the Barry Minkow story: Minkow attended college from his cell, was paroled early at the urging of the judge who sentenced him, and became a pastor in San Diego -- not far from the scene of his crimes. Using the skills he learned committing fraud, Minkow set about uncovering it and, to date, has helped the FBI and other government agencies bust up more than $1 billion in fraudulent investment schemes: an amount far larger than the crime Minkow perpetrated.

Most recently, Minkow has gained notoriety for his accusations of fraud at leading multilevel marketing companies Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) and Usana Health Sciences (NASDAQ: USNA).

Let us know in the comments what you remember about Zzzz Best. And be sure to check out other Companies That Have Vanished.

Here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Archer Daniels Midland Co. (NYSE: ADM) Q3 profits soared, beating analysts' expectations.
• Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) strong Q1 results met analysts' expectations.
• Burger King Holdings Inc. (NYSE: BKC) reported solid Q3 results that beat Wall Street estimates.
• Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) beat expectations for the first quarter, sending shares up.
• Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) posted better-than-expected Q1 results on the weak dollar.
• Corning Inc. (NYSE: GLW) beat earnings expectations and raised its guidance.
• Corn Products International (NYSE: CPO) posted record sales for the ninth consecutive quarter.
• Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) Q1 profits met expectations but revenues beat them.
• ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) missed Q1 expectations due to narrower margins.
• Garmin Ltd. (NYSE: GRMN) reported lower-than-expected earnings due to slowed demand.
• General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM) posted a smaller-than-expected loss for the first quarter.
• Herbalife Ltd. (NASDAQ: HLF) posted Q1 results and announced the resignation of the president and COO.
• Kellogg Co. (NYSE: K) beat Q1 expectations and announced a 10% dividend increase.
• Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) Q1 profits declined but beat analysts' expectations.
• Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) reported better-than-expected Q1 results and raised its 2008 outlook.

Last week I wrote about Barry Minkow's discovery that Herbalife (NASDAQ: HLF) president and COO Gregory Probert had lied on his resume, claiming to have an MBA that he didn't have.

Goldman Sachs analyst Simeon Gutman opined that the credentials flap didn't matter, and that he'd be surprised if Probert lost his job because "not only does he oversee many of Herbalife's day-to-day operations, he is often regarded as a key strategic thinker for the business."

Ooops. In a press release today Herbalife reported "record first quarter results." But wait! In a press release on April 4, Herbalife announced that "Herbalife Ltd. will release its first quarter 2008 financial results after the close of trading on the NYSE on Monday, May 5, 2008."

And now they decided to ambush investors with them today. What gives? Glad you asked. Buried at the bottom of the press release, we find this:

Chairman and CEO Michael O. Johnson accepted President and COO Gregory L. Probert's resignation effective April 30, 2008. The misstatement of Probert's academic credentials has been a matter under review by the board of directors. Given the company's unwavering commitment to the highest standards in business ethics, the company had no other choice but to accept the resignation.

The earlier than announced release of the first quarter results is a brazen -- and desperate -- effort at spin control.

I have to wonder: how much of a commitment to the "highest standards in business ethics" is Herbalife demonstrating when it buries bad news in quarterly results reported a week earlier than they said they would be?

I'll be interested in Mr. Gutman's feelings on the stock now that the company is without its "key strategic thinker."

As Herb Greenberg writes, "the beat goes on."

Today's Wall Street Journal reported that Herbalife Ltd. (NASDAQ: HLF) President and COO Gregory Probert had lied on his resume and does not hold the MBA that filings with the SEC claim he does.

The stock is down more than 8%, but Goldman Sachs analyst Simeon Gutman says that the credentials flap has ""has no fundamental implications" but that it "may just take some time for management credibility to be restored."

There are a couple of problems with this analysis. First of all, issues of management integrity absolutely do have fundamental implications, because they raise questions about what you can trust. Was Probert's MBA the only false statement in the company's SEC filings? Probert knew the company's filings contained an untrue statement, so we know that at least one member of Herbalife's senior management is OK with making false statements to investors.

Investors who lost money in Enron and Worldcom would probably be surprised that dishonest management has "no fundamental implications." Warren Buffett has often said that when looking at potential investments, the most important factor is "honest management." Something tells me he knows more about management that Mr. Gutman.

Today's Wall Street Journal reports that (subscription required) Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) president and COO Gregory Probert never received the MBA listed in his biography that appears in reports the company has filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

The resumé embellishment was uncovered by Barry Minkow, a former fraudster turned fraud investigator.

In an e-mail to the Journal, Probert wrote that he almost completed an MBA at Cal State, but that "the truth is that my vanity prevailed and I did not take action" to correct Herbalife's biography "even though I was aware it was not accurate ... I suppose that some of us who have been blessed with a certain degree of good fortune are tempted to see the paths we took in romantic versus strictly factual ways. I was wrong for succumbing to my vanity and apologize for doing so."

What? He apologizes for not correcting Herbalife's biography of him? It's not like Herbalife made it up. He should be apologizing for "taking action" to lie to his employer and investors. Lying about credentials is not an error of omission. It's a deliberate error of commission, and from the email to the Journal, he doesn't appear to be taking full responsibility for that.

At 10 p.m. last night, Herbalife put out a press release announcing that "Officials at California State University, Los Angeles confirmed that Probert was enrolled in the graduate school MBA program for 12 quarters in the 1980s. The company is reviewing the matter and, upon completion of this internal investigation, will take any appropriate action."

Minkow, who is short Herbalife's stock, has accused the company of perpetrating a large fraud. This latest find would seem to raise grave questions about the integrity of at least one of the company's senior executives.

Ex-con turned fraud fighter Barry Minkow has released a press release raising questions about Herbalife (NYSE: HLF). Calling the company a "financial crime in progress," he wrote about the "Top Ten Red Flags of Fraud at Herbalife."

Herbalife describes itself as "a global network marketing company that sells weight-management, nutrition, and personal care products intended to support a healthy lifestyle," but Minkow believes the company is a fraud.

Minkow writes about a large amount of insider selling combined with aggressive debt-financed share repurchases and indications that the company's business model is not sustainable. Minkow argues that the company has saturated many of its existing markets and that the stringent multi-level marketing laws in China will make expansion there difficult. In the report, he writes that "Herbalife's expansion has reached more than 80 percent of the world's population as the entire continent of Africa, for the most part, is not in the market for weight loss products," but the reality is that Africa is actually facing an extremely serious obesity epidemic. Whether Herbalife's premium-priced products are a viable solution there is a separate question.

Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) closed at $38.27 Wednesday. HLF is scheduled to report EPS on February 26. HLF March option implied volatility of 55 is above February volatility of 43 and its 26-week average of 39 according to Track Data, suggesting price fluctuations in March.

OmniVision Tech (NASDAQ: OVTI), a designer of semiconductor image sensors, is scheduled to report Q3 EPS on February 28. OVTI March implied volatility of 62 is above its 26-week average of 52 according to Track Data, suggesting larger price risks.

Options Update is provided by Stock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com

Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF), which sells weight management and nutritional supplements to promote a healthier lifestyle, last week turned down the bid by Whitney V LP to buy all outstanding shares of common stock at $38 per share. Whitney already owns 27% of Herbalife. Given that the stock traded at over $39 today, and closed at $38.88 yesterday, I'd say Herbalife made the right decision. Currently, analysts give the stock a 1 year target low of $45 and a high of $50 with 4 major analysts upgrading the stock to market outperform. Why did Whitney make such a low offer?

The stock price is going even higher given the fact that Herbalife recently closed on two big deals that will increase its visibility as a healthy lifestyle product that will further drive sales. Herbalife recently acquired a new license to operate in China. This is a huge new market for western-branded healthy living products tailored to appeal to China's rising middle class, which looks to the West for consumer trends. Closer to home, Herbalife just negotiated a marketing agreement with soccer star David Beckham who left team Real Madrid to sign with the Los Angeles Galaxy, which is heavily promoting their new star. The marketing crossover could introduce Herbalife products to an entirely new set of consumers.