The Lies of Lou Pearlman

Lou Pearlman (1954-2016) would be turning 80 years old today had he not died (appropriately) in prison several years ago. Pearlman was indeed a show biz figure, though that’s not why we note his existence here today. The bands he managed were about as far from my personal taste as you can possibly imagine. But there are numerous other points of interest about this repellent man’s life that seemed worth mentioning.

One is that he was Art Garfunkel’s cousin. This is what ultimately drew him to the music business. But there were other enterprises first. Pearlman grew up in Flushing, Queens, right near the local airport, where he was especially entranced by the comings and goings of blimps. He became interested in airships and started a company that leased them for advertising purposes. Well, sort of. While he actually did learn the airship business and acquire both backers and clients, and then some blimps (in that order), his balloons tended to crash. He covered these setbacks by paying unscrupulous traders to inflate their stock price.

Later, Pearlman operated an entire “airline” — which had no airplanes. He had a brand, he had advertising paraphenalia, and when he had to, he rented planes. But mostly what he did was fraudulently acquire investors and take their money, an enterprise which he kept going through what has been called the “longest running Ponzi scheme in U.S. history”.

Starting the in the mid 1990s, Pearlman became best known for managing The Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and numerous other boy bands and girl groups. Millions of dollars rolled in, though it was mismanaged. The artists were cheated, and he also went public with his management firm, thus he cheated those investors too. A lot of the money went to keep the airline con going and to underwrite his expensive life style. He also ran a talent scout scam, where thousands of aspirants were charged for photos and other services under the false expectation that they would be represented by his company.

All this and more can be seen in the 2024 Netflix documentary series Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam. Oh and there are also allegations of sexual harrassment and pedophilia.

Pearlman was finally nabbed in 2006 and incarcerated in 2008, with an expected release in 2029. Justice was only partially served, though. He suffered a stroke in 2010, and then a heart ailment which killed him in 2016.