Within hours of that morning's edition of the "Times" being delivered, ZZZZ Best's banks either called their loans or threatened to do so. Drexel postponed closing until it could investigate further. Later that day at a press conference, a reporter revealed evidence that the Sacramento carpet-cleaning project didn't exist. More seriously, she'd discovered that ZZZZ Best did not have the contractor's license required for large-scale restoration work. To calm nervous investors, Minkow issued a press release touting record profits and revenues, but did so without notifying Ernst & Whinney (now part of Ernst & Young), the firm responsible for auditing the company prior to the KeyServ deal. The press release also implied that Drexel had cleared ZZZZ Best of any wrongdoing, briefly stopping the decline. However, Drexel abruptly pulled out of the deal a few days later, causing the stock price to fall again. Drexel's withdrawal stopped the deal four to seven days before it was due to close.