All About The Disgraced Con Artist Who Discovered *NSYNC And The Backstreet Boys

All About The Disgraced Con Artist Who Discovered *NSYNC And The Backstreet Boys

Carly Silver
Updated July 25, 2024 58.7K views 14 items

If you were a child of the '90s, you likely defined yourself in part through your boy band fandom. Were you into Backstreet Boys songs, or were you more of an *NSYNC fan? Or maybe you repped one of the lesser-known but still incredibly successful groups, like LFO or O-Town. On the surface, these boy bands had nothing in common. But in reality, they were all the work of one man: Lou Pearlman.

Who is Lou Pearlman? A blimp mogul-turned-boy band Svengali, Lou Pearlman and boy bands have a checkered history. Scary Lou Pearlman stories tell how he bilked the Backstreet Boys out of millions, and the saga of Lou Pearlman and *NSYNC and other boy bands includes alleged child molestation and more money theft. And those are just the boy band tales. Outside of the entertainment industry, Pearlman was a shady businessman who specialized in Ponzi schemes.

The Netflix docuseries Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam made in 2024 tells the story of Pearlman's career - and his crimes.  Pearlman may have died behind bars on August 19, 2016, but the stories of his truly awful exploits live on.

  • He Swindled People Out Of $317 Million In A Ponzi Scheme

    He Swindled People Out Of $317 Million In A Ponzi Scheme

    From 1990 to the early 2000s, Pearlman allegedly stole $317 million (up to $500 million) from 2,000 different people – including the elderly.

    Ponzi schemes involve paying new investors with cash from the old, and Pearlman took out loan after loan and continued to steal money. Needless to say, the crime caught up with him. Pearlman fled authorities, but was caught in Fiji in June 2007 and imprisoned.

  • He Allegedly Molested His Protégés

    He Allegedly Molested His Protégés

    Pearlman was credited with the rise of super-famous boy bands like *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. But he also allegedly took advantage of the young boys he worked with. A 2007 Vanity Fair article quoted Pearlman's former assistant as saying, "I would absolutely say the guy was a sexual predator. All the talent knew what Lou's game was. If they say no, they're lying to you."

    The late Rich Cronin of LFO described interacting with Pearlman:

    "He goes, 'You could be a star... take off your shirt.' Then he's like, 'Turn around.' He's massaging my shoulders and he's like, 'You wanna watch Top Gun?'... Eventually he did [try and touch me sexually]... some other dudes went for it. And if you did, he took care of you. He'd buy 'em cars."

    Pearlman denied the accusations.

  • He Invited Boys Over For Sleepovers And Wrestled Nude With Them

    He Invited Boys Over For Sleepovers And Wrestled Nude With Them

    Pearlman became something of a father figure to the singers in his boy bands, and his house became a hangout spot for his protégés.

    Tim Christofore, a member of Take 5, recalled Pearlman inviting the group members over for a sleepover one night. The older man showed up at the foot of his bed in nothing but a towel. He then jumped into bed with the boys and wrestled naked with them. On another occasion, Pearlman showed up nude when boys came over the play pool.

    Christofore said, "We were like, 'Ooh, Lou, that's gross.' What did I know? I was 13."

  • He Took Minors To Strip Clubs

    He Took Minors To Strip Clubs

    Pearlman reportedly tried to isolate young boys from their parents to get away with highly questionable activity. The mother of one of Pearlman's band members told Vanity Fair:

    "Most of the stuff, we learned about only after the group broke up [in 2001]. Lou played this game of trying to alienate the parents. Every time he dropped the boys off, it was 'Don't tell the parents anything.' They pretty much had a pact with him and they kept it."

    That included taking these teenage boys to strip clubs without their parents' knowledge and showing them porn.

  • He Stole Money From Members Of The Backstreet Boys

    He Stole Money From Members Of The Backstreet Boys

    In 1997, Backstreet Boy Brian Littrell first started to notice he wasn't getting the returns he'd expected from the boy band's success. His lawyers figured out that Littrell and his bandmates had all gotten $300,000 over several years ($12,000 per member), while Pearlman had raked in millions. Littrell, and later his bandmates, sued. 

    In 2017, Backstreet Boy Kevin Richardson recalled:

    "Lou was taking one-sixth of everything, he was taking a 25 percent management commission, and he was being recouped all of his expenses. That’s called triple-dipping, and as a manager, it’s a breach of fiduciary duty, and it’s illegal."

  • Justin Timberlake Called His Activities Financial Rape

    Justin Timberlake Called His Activities Financial Rape

    In 2006, solo superstar Justin Timberlake spoke out about what Pearlman had done to *NSYNC. Rumor had it that Pearlman stole up to half of the group's profits, leading Timberlake to dub his activities "financial rape."

    Two years later, Pearlman was convicted of conspiracy, fraud, and money laundering.

  • He Bragged About His Ponzi Scheme In Jail

    He Bragged About His Ponzi Scheme In Jail

    Pearlman didn't sound repentant once he was in jail for his Ponzi scheme. In fact, he boasted about it. In a 2014 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he bragged:

    "Well, Bernie [Madoff], I mean, he didn't have anything that really made money... He didn't have any real way to make money. but I had the music. Backstreet Boys each made well over $50 million apiece. I, of course, got my piece, and it was very nice and very substantial.

    "He was just a scamster. I don't think it was right, what he did. But I had my way to make it all right. I just didn't have my chance to do it."

  • He Reportedly Took Advantage Of His Employees

    He Reportedly Took Advantage Of His Employees

    Pearlman allegedly used his position as a power broker, swapping groping for spots in boy bands. He hired personal assistants and promised them slots in groups that could go on to be super-successful.

    Some of these assistants later reported just what Pearlman did to them while they were his employees. Steve Mooney hoped to join O-Town. He told Vanity Fair, "As soon as the elevator doors close, he would grab you and rub your abs. The first few times, it's O.K. But it gets to be too much. It's like you have this creepy friend who's always touching you."

  • Lance Bass Was Warned To Stay Away From Him

    Lance Bass Was Warned To Stay Away From Him

    *NSYNC-er Lance Bass recalled rumors about Pearlman's habits. He told The Hollywood Reporter: 

    "We would hear things, for sure. He would always have young boy limo drivers for Trans Continental Records; those limo drivers would always be put into different boy bands. Then I'd hear rumors that he would molest the boys before they would even get into the groups. I don't know how much of that is true, but to me, where there's smoke, there's fire."

  • He Denied The Sexual Abuse Allegations

    He Denied The Sexual Abuse Allegations

    Pearlman denied the many, many allegations made against him. He told The Hollywood Reporter: 

    "You know, the accusations that came out in that [Vanity Fair] article, none of it was substantiated... Nobody who I've made a success has ever accused me of anything negative like that. The Vanity Fair piece interviewed only people that had a grudge."

  • He Was Sued By *NSYNC

    He Was Sued By *NSYNC
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    Pearlman followed the Backstreet Boys formula to create *NSYNC, and the group rocketed to international fame as well. But before long, they had money issues as well, and filed a lawsuit against Pearlman in 1999. He sued them right back. The acrimonious split allegedly inspired the title of *NSYNC's sophomore album, No Strings Attached.

  • He Was Obsessed With Blimps

    He Was Obsessed With Blimps

    Before he got into the music industry, Pearlman made his money in blimps. He'd been transfixed by the balloons ever since childhood; he and his pal even called themselves "balloonatics" and "Helium Heads." Pearlman founded a helicopter taxi service before leasing out blimps and getting advertising on them.

    Pearlman loved to tell stories about how he talked his way onto a blimp when he was a child. But he might have even stolen that anecdote. His onetime friend Alan Gross says he was the first one onto the blimp: "The stories he tells? They're not about Lou. They're about me. He's taken episodes from my life to make his own. He always has."

  • He Used Newspaper Ads To Form The Backstreet Boys

    He Used Newspaper Ads To Form The Backstreet Boys
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    Inspired by the success of New Kids On The Block, Pearlman set out to start his own group. He placed an ad in the Orlando Sentinel in 1992, announcing he was holding auditions for teenage male singers to form a boy band. Among those who replied was A.J. McLean's mom, who had her son audition for Pearlman in his living room.

    A bunch of music managers helped Pearlman complete the group; final auditions took place in 1993 in Pearlman's blimp hangar. Four other members in addition to McLean were selected, and the Backstreet Boys was born.

  • He Made His Clients Call Him Big Poppa

    He Made His Clients Call Him Big Poppa
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    Pearlman asked young singers to call him "Big Poppa," and he apparently thought of himself as something of a father figure to his clients.

    That made Pearlman's continual swindling of the musicians under his charge all the more hurtful. AJ McLean of Backstreet Boys said, "To find out he was a conman the whole time makes you think, was anything ever true – anything you ever said to us or did for us? Was all it really true? Or was it half and half? Or was it all bullsh*t?"