Watched this 3 part series yesterday about Lou Pearlman and his creation of Boy Bands in the late 99/00's.

I had heard of him vaguely with the creation of Backstreet Boys and NSync, but never knew how sleazy he really was. The series goes into his background and has sit down interviews with several of the boy band members. Seems like he was a creep and an outcast, and was able to buy his way into the "cool crowd." I never knew that he ran a Ponzi scheme for 30 years to prop up all of his financing to get the bands created and running. He owed money to everyone, and I enjoyed hearing his lawyer speak about the 16 million he was owed and never received.

It was an easy watch, and this was good nostalgia for my age group. Its laughable now to see the fashion and dancing of those dudes- I was never into that scene but its even more cringeworthy looking back at it now. They used AI to recreate an image of Pearlman reading excerpts from his own book, which was a little weird. I didn't think it added to the show, rather just Netflix playing with a new toy.

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Posted by Bert Macklin FBI

Quantico

Member since May 2013

11941 posts

Posted on 8/2/24 at 10:54 am to slinger1317

quote:
I had heard of him vaguely with the creation of Backstreet Boys and NSync, but never knew how sleazy he really was.

My main question is if he had these 2 cash cows (seemingly) in Nsync and Back Street Boys, why do the ponzci scheme?

I get maybe selling his soul to the record company for BSB considering he needed a foot in the door. But he should have been able to parlay their success into actual monetary success for Nsync.

quote:
I enjoyed hearing his lawyer speak about the 16 million he was owed and never received.

He seemed like a slimy prick in his own right. He was the only one I didn't feel bad for. He seemed like he would sue his own grandma if he thought he could take her for all she was worth.

This post was edited on 8/2/24 at 10:56 am

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Posted by boogiewoogie1978

Little Rock

Member since Aug 2012

19748 posts

Posted on 8/2/24 at 10:58 am to slinger1317

The music industry has traditionally been an area where pedos, conmen, and sleazeballs have ran wild.

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Posted by slinger1317

Northshore

Member since Sep 2005

6932 posts

Posted on 8/2/24 at 10:58 am to Bert Macklin FBI

quote:
My main question is if he had these 2 cash cows (seemingly) in Nsync and Back Street Boys, why do the ponzci scheme?

That was my question as well. It did say at the end that he got very little money from BSB because he basically gave them away to the record company. Seems like he could have made some money from NSync since he had already established a proven winner.

He also received a $64 million settlement, why didn't he get out then?

Seems like between BSB, NSync, and the $64 million he could have cleared his debts and retired without disgrace. But I guess the fame and running with those crowds is like a drug and they can't stop. He was a sheister all the way back to his blimp days, taking Jordache's advertising money without even owning a blimp, then crashing the blimp he finally got and a few others for massive insurance payouts.

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Posted by cgrand