In his last act, Pearlman was investigated, charged, and sentenced to 25 years in prison for operating a $300 million Ponzi scheme.
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He fled the U.S., but was caught in Indonesia in 2007 and returned back to the States to face trial, where he was convicted for conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements during a bankruptcy. Many of those whose careers were influenced by Pearlman took to social media over the weekend to pay tribute to the late producer, despite his sentencing. Timberlake tweeted Sunday he hoped Pearlman had “found some peace”.
Justin’s bandmate Lance Bass tweeted: “Word is that #LouPearlman has passed away”. He reportedly suffered a stroke in 2010 and has suffered ill-health since then. “God bless and RIP, Lou Pearlman”, the former NSYNC member tweeted on August 21, two days after Lou died in prison at the age of 62.
Ashley Parker Angel, a member of O-Town, which was created through Pearlman’s MTV show “Making the Band”, also posted condolences and a picture of the producer with the band.
Inspired by the success of the boy band New Kids on the Block, Pearlman recruited a group of unknowns to form the Backstreet Boys, which soared to stardom in 1996, becoming one of the best-selling boy bands of all-time. It’s a shame he let greed get in his way.
AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, Nick Carter, Kevin Richardson, and Brian Littrell, went on to become one of the bestselling boy bands of all time, with 130 million record sales worldwide. Rip Lou not the best business guy really at all but he did discover me.
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Additionally, several of Pearlman’s artists, who were among the hundreds that filed lawsuits against him, sued him in federal court and claimed he kept most of the money earned from their music.
