Lou Pearlman’s fall from grace has been well documented, but now Vanity Fair has unveiled their scandalous feature about the boy band impresario who now sits in a jail cell on charges of embezzling $300 million. A short summary: After founding the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC and guiding their careers, both bands turned around and sued Pearlman for fraud (as Justin Timberlake told Rolling Stone, “I was being monetarily raped by a Svengali” — one of the baddest of all time). Pearlman was later investigated for defrauding his investors and fled the country; he was captured in Indonesia in December 2006 and upon his return to the States, his belongings were auctioned off and he was indicted for fraud. While there were mutterings about Pearlman’s alleged perviness for years, this new story really drives the point home. We’ve taken time to comb through the piece and pull out the most distressing details:
- “I would absolutely say the guy was a sexual predator,” Steve Mooney, an aspiring singer and former assistant to Pearlman insists: “More than once, he says, he encountered young male singers slipping out of those doors late at night, tucking in their shirts, a sheepish look on their faces. ‘There was one guy in every band — one sacrifice — one guy in every band who takes it for Lou,’ says Mooney, echoing a sentiment I heard from several people. ‘That’s just the way it was.’”
- Around 1997-1998, allegations of sexual abuse emerged, one of which involved former Backstreet Boy Nick Carter. “My son did say something about the fact that Nick had been uncomfortable staying [at Pearlman’s house],” Denise McLean, mother to fellow Backstreet Boy A.J. recalled. “For a while Nick loved going over to Lou’s house. All of a sudden it appeared there was a flip at some point.” “Certain things happened,” Carter’s mother told Vanity Fair, “and it almost destroyed our family. I tried to warn everyone. I tried to warn all the mothers.”
- Pearlman used the notion of realigning the boys’ auras as an excuse to touch them. Rich Cronin, lead singer of the Pearlman band LFO (and current member of Sureshot) remembers, “I definitely heard that aura bullshit. It took everything in me not to laugh. He was like, ‘I know some mystical fricking ancient massage technique that if I massage you and we bond in a certain way, through these special massages, it will strengthen your aura to the point you are irresistible to people.’”
- Pearlman used multiple companies to make it seem like his investors were making money, like Trans Continental Airlines — which didn’t even exist. In fact, according to a childhood friend of Pearlman’s, the photos Pearlman used to market the airline featured models, not real planes: “You notice you can’t see the entire airplane. You can’t see the tail numbers. You know why? Because that’s where Lou was holding his fingers! It’s a model. It’s one I built for him.”
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- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
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