Lou Pearlman

Lou Pearlman Net Worth

Lou Pearlman Net Worth: Lou Pearlman as an American impresario of successful boy bands who had a peak net worth of $300 million dollars. Lou Pearlman was born on June 19, 1954 in Flushing, New York. He is credited with launching such boy bands as the Backstreet Boys and N Sync and is the first cousin of folk singer Art Garfunkel (of the former group Simon & Garfunkel). As a teenager, Pearlman managed a band but when success in music eluded him, he turned his attention to aviation. During his first year as a student at Queens College, Pearlman wrote a business plan for a class project based on the idea of a helicopter taxi service in New York City. By the late '70s, he had launched the business based on his business plan, starting with one helicopter. He convinced German businessman Theodor Wüllenkemper to train him on blimps and spent time at Wüllenkemper's facilities in Germany to learn more. Pearlman was always fascinated with the success of the boy band New Kids on the Block. In the '80s he started Trans Continental Records with the intent of mimicking their boy-band business model. The label's first band, the Backstreet Boys, consisted of five unknown performers selected by Pearlman in a $3 million talent search. Management duties were assigned to a former New Kids on the Block manager, Johnny Wright, and his wife Donna. The Backstreet Boys went on to become the best-selling boy band of all time. Pearlman and the Wrights repeated this formula (almost exactly) with the band NSync, which sold over 55 million records globally. Pearlman had become a music mogul. He went on to create and mentor other boy bands and even one girl band, Innosense.In 2006, it was discovered that Pearlman had perpetrated one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in American history, leaving more than $300 million in debts. He was subsequently apprehended (on the run) and pleaded guilty to conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding. In 2008, Pearlman was convicted and sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. He died on August 19, 2016 while incarcerated.