Jesse Lee manufactured stylish college uniforms for womenathletes at a time when their teams mattered a lot less. Hispioneering company, Sports Belle, was the first choice of manycollege teams for years. Then larger companies such as Nike andAdidas elbowed into the business and snatched account after accountfrom Lee as women’s teams blossomed in stature.

Sports Belle declined and Lee’s plant in Knoxville, Tenn., wasgrowing increasingly idle. He had little future left in sportsapparel. His final run at profits was a desperate money grab— Lee burned down his plant for $4.7 million worth ofinsurance money.

Related: 5 cases of arson gone bad

The outsized firestorm destroyed the building and nearly killedfire fighters who struggled to contain the flames. Employees alsolost their jobs and a small company was run out of business.

Lee shines a harsh spotlight on arson crimes by failingentrepreneurs. He also bucks the trend. Conclusive data areevasive although structural arsons of all kinds continue decliningnationally. Today, only 4% involve businesses (homes are by far thelargest arson source) says the FBI.

Photo: Vasily Smirnov/Shutterstock

Burning for business

Still, business arsons for profit may be a greater financialdrain and public-safety threat than the downward data arcsuggests. Arson overall remains one of the hardest majorcrimes to solve despite advances in arson science. This crime has a“clearance” rate of only about 20% according to the FBI.

Perhaps more importantly, up to 75% of arsons overall gounreported reveals an investigation of major-city fires by theScripps Howard News Service. Lurking in that finding maybe many unreported “scorchings” of businesses for insurance. Muchof the $1.5. billion insurers paid out for arsons overall —including the business arsons for profit — thus remainsuncontested. Deaths also should be treated as homicides.

Related: Anatomy of an arson case

Most business owners also operate in highly competitivemarketplaces. Odds of failure are high, thus compounding thepressure to cheat with insurance arsons. Generally, about nine of10 startups fail and only about half of startup companies stay openpast four years. At least 75% of venture-backed startupsfizzle.

Most bankrupt entrepreneurs get back up and try again. Yet asmall minority like Lee can’t stand the heat so they create theirown: They seek the easy path back to solvency by incinerating theirbusinesses for insurance payouts.

Photo: Four Oaks/Shutterstock

Sprinklers disabled

Lee hired a drug addict named Joseph Beason to burn down SportsBelle. He promised Beason $10,000 and as much copper wiring as hecould extract from the building. Beason and a crony disabledthe sprinklers and alarms. They set several small fires that roaredso fast that the pair barely escaped. Sports uniforms piled inthe warehouse quickly ignited, enlarging a blaze that engulfed thebuilding.

Related: Where there's smoke, there's fire: Redflags

More than 50 firefighters battled the fire for 22 hours. Theywere Lee’s opposition: He had refused their recent request todevelop a fire-fighting “pre-plan” to combat a blaze in the largeplant.

The firefighters were forced to devise ad-hoc pathways throughthe gooey black smoke and flesh-searing heat. They cut holes intothe roof to let trapped heat and smoke escape. This is normally oneof the most dangerous maneuvers. The fire-weakened structure couldhave collapsed underneath them. Firefighters have died or beeninjured in other blazes when walls, floors or roofs havecrumbled.

Workers lost jobs

Lee’s once-thriving plant was ruined. Nearly 50 employees losttheir jobs and about half were Lee’s staff. A small business alsoworked inside the plant printing names and logos on the uniforms.Lee’s own policy covered Parks Athletics, he assured the company’sowner.

Yet Parks never saw a dime of the $4.7 million of insurancemoney. His little company went bankrupt, Parks died and his wife,Linda, lost the house — leaving her a homeless widow.

The insurance money made Lee a multi-millionaire, giving him acomfortable lifestyle. Dogged investigators spent more than sixyears trying to pinpoint the fire’s cause and motive. Lee evenaccused the fire department of lying that he’d denied access to hisbuilding for the pre-plan.

The big break came when Beason, hoping for leniency, agreed towear a wire and let Lee spill the plot. The evidence convicted Lee,who received six-and-a-half years in federal prison in June2015.

Sadly, he never considered the price his daughter, Melissa,would pay. She suffers from multiple sclerosis, is largelybedridden and in pain with her muscles shrinking. Lee was her solecaregiver after his wife died of cancer. Lee’s jail term left thefragile young woman frightened and her future bleak without herfather and caregiver.

“... he is now the only person I can turn to who knows how I’mdoing without me having to say a word to. Because he’s just there,and I need that,” she wrote the court memo in asking for a lenientsentence. “And I fear what might happen to me during the next5-6 years. I am short on able-bodied family, and with my fathergone, all I will have is myself and my dog. And that is terrifyingto me.”

As for Beason, he ended up with 38 months in jail despite hiscooperation. He thought he’d earned probation despite setting thelargest and costliest arson blaze in Knox County history.

Photo: krivinis/Shutterstock

Sofa store failed

Other fire-prone entrepreneurs have sought insurance payoutswhen they could not make enough money honestly.

Consider Jay Aneja. His Roanoke, Va., sofa store was goingbelly-up. He bribed a henchman with $3,000 to burn down the placefor the insurance money. The blaze caused $407,000 in damageto his store. Four nearby businesses incurred $300,000 in smokedamage. His insurer refused the claim.

Related: Accident or arson? Top red flags in fireclaims

One of Aneja’s victims was entrepreneur Dwight Hanna. He ownedCaution Flag, a racing collectibles shop that lost numerousone-of-a-kind items. One was a rare driver’s suit worn and signedby racing great Dale Earnhardt. Hanna also was stuck with $80,000in damage that insurance didn’t cover. Aneja received 84 months infederal prison in June 2015.

Dirty laundry

Another entrepreneur named Alexandros Yfantidis came to the U.S.from Greece and started a laundry service. Best Textiles became hisworst nightmare.

The Macomb County, Michigan man’s business went bankrupt, avictim of market forces. Insurance money was his only way outYfantidis figured. So he opened a two-inch-wide gas line inside thebuilding then lit a candle in the path of the fumes.

The 5,000-square-foot laundry plant blew up as if struck byheat-seeking missiles. Residents felt the shuddering blast formiles around. It caused at least $1 million in damages to nearbyhomes and businesses. Some nearby companies were permanently ruinedand never reopened. Yfantidis admitted guilt and awaits federalsentencing.

Photo: Jagodka/Shutterstock

Puppies barely escape

Caged puppies were Gloria Lee’s pathway to profits as shestruggled to escape large debts piling on top of her and herhusband. The Las Vegas woman thought she had a clear way tosolvency: Burn down her Prince and Princess Pet Boutique; figuring28 puppies burned alive would increase her insurance take.

She and her dreadlocked boyfriend with whom she was having anaffair glided through the pet store. They sprayed gasoline then setfire to stacks of newspapers they’d piled up for kindling.

Related: Examinations under oath in arsoninvestigations

Cringing in their cages were the frightened pooches— Yorkshire terriers, Malteses, Chihuahuas, pugs, an Englishbulldog, beagle, dachshund, a miniature poodle and miniatureschnauzer.

But Lee overlooked her own security cameras and the camerascaught nearly every move. Lee also forgot her sprinklersystem. It dutifully shut down the flames and saved the puppiesfrom a ghastly death. Lee received up to 14 years in prison.

Insurance fraud is not the answer

Entrepreneurs form the backbone of America’s economy. Our nationdepends on their creativity and job-creating power. For mostentrepreneurs, the energy that compelled them to start theirbusinesses provides the inner reserves to keep going when marketforces squeeze their finances past the breaking point.

Yet when moral and financial bankruptcy collide, someentrepreneurs use matches, accelerant and insurance to escapedestitution.

Downed by a financial squeeze, spirited business owners keepclimbing back up and competing. Yet when they try to incineratetheir failing businesses for insurance money, there’s no competingwith tenacious investigators and prosecutors.

Dennis Jay is the executive director of theCoalitionAgainst Insurance Fraud.