33 Facts About Lou Pearlman

Louis Jay Pearlman was an American music manager and scam artist.

Lou Pearlman was the person behind many successful 1990s boy bands, having formed and funded the Backstreet Boys.

Lou Pearlman pled guilty to conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements during bankruptcy proceedings.

In 2008, Lou Pearlman was convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Lou Pearlman was born and raised in Queens, New York, the only child of Jewish parents Hy Pearlman, who ran a dry cleaning business, and Reenie Pearlman, a school lunchroom aide.

Lou Pearlman was a first cousin of the musician Art Garfunkel.

Lou Pearlman persuaded German businessman Theodor Wullenkemper, a Luftwaffe veteran, to train him on blimps and subsequently spent some time at Wullenkemper's facilities in West Germany learning about the airships.

Lou Pearlman used the funds from Jordache to construct a blimp, which promptly crashed.

Lou Pearlman then relocated Airship International to Orlando, Florida, in July 1991, where he signed MetLife and SeaWorld as clients for his blimps.

In return for keeping his penny stock liquid, Lou Pearlman allegedly paid Rosen handsome commissions, according to a mutual friend, that reached into 'the tens of thousands of dollars' per trade.

Lou Pearlman became fascinated with the success of the New Kids on the Block, who had made hundreds of millions of dollars in record, tour and merchandise sales.

Lou Pearlman started Trans Continental Records in early 1992 with the intent of mimicking their boy band business model.

Lou Pearlman owned the Church Street Station entertainment complex in Orlando, including a recording studio he called Trans Continental Studios, and a dance studio near Disney World named O-Town.

All cases against Lou Pearlman either have been won by those who have brought lawsuits against him or have been settled out of court.

In September 2002, Lou Pearlman purchased Mark Tolner's internet-based talent company, Options Talent Group, which would subsequently go through several names, including Trans Continental Talent, Wilhelmina Talent Scouting, Web Style Network, Fashion Rock, and Talent Rock.

In 2006, investigators discovered Lou Pearlman had perpetrated what was then thought to be the longest-running Ponzi scheme in American history and had defrauded investors out of more than $1 billion, out of which $300 million is still missing.

For more than 20 years, Lou Pearlman had enticed individuals and banks to invest in Trans Continental Airlines Inc.

Lou Pearlman used falsified Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, AIG and Lloyd's of London documents to win investors' confidence in his program titled Employee Investment Savings Account, and he used fake financial statements created by the fictitious accounting firm Cohen and Siegel to secure bank loans.

Lou Pearlman was arrested in Indonesia on June 14,2007, after being spotted by a tourist couple from Germany.

Lou Pearlman was living in a tourist hotel in Nusa Dua in Bali.

Lou Pearlman was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 27,2007.

Lou Pearlman could reduce his prison time by one month for every million dollars he helped a bankruptcy trustee recover.

Lou Pearlman ordered individual investors to be paid before institutions in distributing any eventual assets.

Church Street Station, a historic train station in downtown Orlando which Lou Pearlman had purchased in 2002, was sold at a bankruptcy auction in April 2007 for $34 million.

Cronin claimed that Lou Pearlman had "wanted to bang everyone" and had attempted to seduce him multiple times.

In 2008, Lou Pearlman began his prison sentence with a projected release date of March 24,2029.

Lou Pearlman was diagnosed with an infection of a heart valve.

Lou Pearlman had surgery to replace a heart valve a few weeks before his death.

Lou Pearlman died while still in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution in Miami, Florida, on August 19,2016.

Lou Pearlman was buried ten days later on August 29,2016, in his family's burial area.

Lou Pearlman was featured in the third season of American Greed in the episode called "Boy Band Mogul" in 2009.

The documentary The Boy Band Con: The Lou Pearlman Story, produced by Lance Bass; member of Pearlman's boy band NSYNC, premiered at SXSW on March 13,2019.

On July 24,2024, Lou Pearlman's story was featured on Netflix's documentary series Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam.