Jun 28, 2007 8:51 am US/Eastern
Boy Band Creator Charged In 5-Count Indictment
Lou Pearlman Expected In Florida In About 2 Weeks
lc
ORLANDO (CBS4) ―
The creator of the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync is expected to return to Florida soon after being indicted on charges he defrauded a bank out of $20 million dollars.
Court documents show Lou Pearlman was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on three counts of bank fraud, and single counts of mail and wire fraud for business he did with an Indiana-based bank.
Pearlman is most famous for forming boy bands in the '90s. He was also involved in airplane charter, real estate, model scouting and restaurant ventures. He's accused of fraudulently securing millions in bank loans with documents from a fake accounting firm.
Assets have been liquidated in two bankruptcy cases against Pearlman and his companies, and the entertainment mogul has ignored court actions against him for months.
Florida investigators separately allege Pearlman defrauded more than a thousand individual investors out of more than $315 million dollars. Several banks say he collectively owes them more than $120 million dollars, according to bankruptcy court documents.
Pearlman was arrested in Indonesia earlier this month. He was expelled from Bali after the FBI contacted authorities there, then he was transferred to U.S. custody and flown to Guam. Pearlman was flown to Los Angeles, and federal authorities say he should be in Florida in about two weeks.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
