He fled the country, but was captured in Bali, Indonesia in 2007 and, in 2008, sentenced to 25 years for crimes including conspiracy and money laundering. He might not have been a stand-up businessman, but I wouldn’t be doing what I love today w/out his influence.
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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.
Pearlman saw a fall from grace, however, in 2006, when it was revealed he was running a $300 million Ponzi scheme through his Trans Continental companies. He suffered a stroke in 2010 and was diabetic, but it isn’t clear if either issue was related to his cause of death.
Former O-Town singer Ashley Parker Angel also took to Twitter, to write: “Love him or hate him, Lou gave many of us our start”.
News of Pearlman’s death was met with mixed emotions by his former charges. Timberlake tweeted, “I hope he found some peace”. “RIP”, McLean said. Carter shared, “#LouPearlman my old manager died in prison… Once known affectionately as “Papa Lou” by numerous young men whose careers he started, Pearlman suffered a stroke in his Texas prison in 2010, The Hollywood Reporter’s Seth Abramovitch wrote in 2014 after interviewing Pearlman in prison.
Aaron Carter, brother of Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, tweeted Sunday about Pearlman, “karma is real”. “But greed gets the best of you”. The judge told Pearlman he could reduce his sentence if he repaid the people he cheated, but he never paid, People reports.
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Shortly after the launch of the Backstreet Boys, Pearlman followed up with a second boy band called *NSYNC – which sold more than 55 million records.
