Just two days after his possessions were auctioned off in Florida, boy-band mogul Lou Pearlman–missing since February–was found by Federal authorities in Indonesia. He’s since been transported to Guam, where he’ll appear before a federal judge on one count of felony bank fraud, the AP reports. The Orlando Sentinel has more details:
Indonesian authorities located Pearlman living in a resort hotel in the tourist district of Nusa Dua in Bali. Immigration officials in that country told him he was no longer welcome in their country and then expelled him. In the process, they turned him over to U.S. officials.
…Pearlman has been charged in both state and federal court with civil complaints alleging widespread fraud in an “employee investment savings account ” program he ran for more than two decades through his Trans Continental Airlines company.
The civil suits, including one from the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, have alleged he received more than $317 million from more than 1,800 investors who were told their money was going into safe, secured, high-interest accounts. They money instead fueled a huge, long-running Ponzi scheme, in which later investments were used to keep earlier investors happy, the suits allege. In addition, a dozen banks have sued him after foreclosing on more than $130 million in loans.
More charges will probably be brought against Pearlman, who was last seen shepherding a boy band around Germany; meanwhile, Tuesday’s auction netted $200,000, which will go toward his mountain of debts. (Only $200,000? That LFO clock must have not been as big-ticket an item as we thought.)
Boy-band mogul Lou Pearlman to appear before federal judge [Orlando Sentinel]
maybe there is a god…
Whatever, that first O-Town record was still the shit. Werd.
I remember watching this guy waaaaaay back when he was on the first season of “Making the Band.” You could just tell he was skeevy.
Of course, I always thought he would get busted for pedophilia, not bank fraud. Dude’s got NAMBLA written all over him.
He’s probably hiding a million in cash in his chins.
Just think of who’s going to have to testify! He launched everyone from Mandy Moore to Justin Timberlake to Britney…
Dude is definitely looking forward to his jail time. He’ll probably show up in a dress that reads “I Heart O-Town.”
Is Argentina not a cool place to hide from the law anymore?
I find Lou Perelman’s saga – par
OK, I’ll try this again…
I find his saga, particularly the recent turn of events, engrossing. Boy-band impresario, con man and all-around creep Pearlman goes on the lam and is captured in Indonesia?! He was responsible for some huge acts. This should do the trick in nipping the impending late-90s nostalgia in the bud (yes folks, it’ll only be a year or so).
And the fact that it all took place in Florida makes it five times creepier.
He should add an epilogue covering this time to that book he wrote a few years ago.
How does a dude go from launching boy bands with nary more effort than it takes to unleash a beer fart to running straight up Ponzi schemes to ducking the law in Indonesia to getting kicked the fuck out of Indonesia? Seriously. I remember hearing four years ago that Osama bin Laden could be hiding in Indonesia, no problem. How do you become less desirable than Osama?
Oh, wait. O-Town.
Katieee – actually I thought your “I find Lou Perelman’s saga – par” was rather aptly put. The story (greed, entertainment, extradition) is so totally predictable as to be very much ‘par for the course.’
Yeah, Chrisb, you would think someone who spends the majority of his life with 16 year old boys then ends up in Indonesia would have more of a Gary Glitter/John Mark Karr rap sheet…
…who was last seen shepherding a boy band around Germany
Please let this be the end of US5, please let this be the end of US5…
Indonesian food makes him sick.