The Boy Band Scam Documentary

Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam is an intense three-part documentary about Lou Pearlman, who created several iconic boy bands, including Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. The documentary details how the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC rose to fame. However, Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam also explains what happened to Lou Pearlman and the accusations that he scammed his bands and countless investors with his company, Trans Continental Airlines. The scandal, which came to a hilt in 2006, was so big that Disney even created a parody of the scenario in their show Gravity Falls.

Despite Lou Pearlman’s Ponzi scheme, he changed the boy band world forever. However, Lou Pearlman also wound up with millions of dollars from his investors, including close family and friends. He is a controversial figure, especially among the members of the boy bands he created. Some of them feel they owe Pearlman their success, despite the controversies. Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam is a documentary with many shocking reveals about Pearlman and his Ponzi scheme – so much so that the series belongs among Netflix’s best documentaries.

10 Lou Pearlman Used Backstreet Boys And *NSYNC To Acquire Investors

Lou Pushed His Bands To Sing For Various Corporations

The documentary explains that Lou Pearlman often used his bands to entice people and corporations to invest in Trans Continental Airlines. Pearlman struck deals with his investors, compelling his bands to perform for all kinds of people, including powerful figures such as the CEO of the Bank of America. Lou Pearlman went to extreme lengths to ensure he would profit from his investors, even to the detriment of his boy bands. Lou Pearlman’s agreements with various companies also helped him avoid paying for things; he often received reduced ratings or free deals by using his bands.

9 Lou Pearlman Overworked The Backstreet Boys And *NSYNC

Lou Circumvented Child Labor Laws And Paid His Bands Very Little

Lou Pearlman is said to haveoverworked his boy bands, especially the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, his first two musical projects. At the time, the members of Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC were underage teenagers, so he got away with underpaying and overworking them at the same time. He also circumvented child labor laws. When the Backstreet Boys were trying to make it big, they spent two years in Germany, away from home, working long hours to ensure their success. Any money they made went to Pearlman and Trans Continental Airlines. Pearlman pocketed 43% of the profits they made.

These events occurred prior to Pearlman signing with Bertelsmann Music Group, which certainly changed his financial circumstances. However, it did not matter – the finances for both Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC got so bad that both boy bands eventually bought him out, but not without a hefty price of $64 million, partly because he acquired an excellent defense attorney for this case. Pearlman created these bands and helped put them on the map, but he did not pay them fairly.

8 The Blimp Crashes Were Staged To Acquire Insurance Money

Lou Pearlman Initiated Insurance Fraud With The Blimps

Before Trans Continental Airlines, Lou Pearlman had another company, Airship International Ltd., which produced several blimps. Pearlman struck business deals with corporations, allowing companies to use his blimps. One of the ways Pearlman kept his Ponzi scheme running for so long was by transitioning from Airship International to Trans Continental. Pearlman staged a series of blimp crashes that resulted in him making a lot of money off the insurance companies. He committed insurance fraud when Airship International began going downhill to make a suitable profit and transition to his next project—Trans Continental Airlines.

7 Lou Pearlman Managed To Get The Boy Band Natural On A Plane The Day After 9/11

Lou Pearlman Had Connections All The Way Up To The President Of The United States

When the September 11, 2001, attacks occurred, the band Natural was in New York City for business. Once the Twin Towers crashed, Pearlman immediately called them back to Orlando, Florida. However, all planes in the United States were grounded for an indefinite period of time. There were even airspaces in other nations that were grounded because of the severity of the situation. Lou Pearlman was notorious for his various connections—from Bank of America to casual restaurants down the street. The band members of Natural tried telling him they would not be able to fly any time soon.

However, his connections were so significant that he called President George W. Bush to request special permission to allow the members of Natural to fly. Not only did President Bush grant special permission, but he also sent special planes to pick them up in New York. Lou Pearlman was so powerful that he could bypass strict national laws for his personal benefit. Pearlman quite literally defied the attacks on September 11, 2001—not even something as severe as that could stand in his way.

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6 Lou Pearlman’s Deal With Bertelsmann Music Group Did Not Pay Well

Lou Made It Appear As If He Was Making Money That He Was Not

Lou Pearlman had a talent for making it seem like he had a lot more money than he actually did. When he signed with BMG, he got the short end of the stick because most of the money Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC made went to Bertelsmann Music Group. Pearlman did not have the money he claimed he did, but the deal also involved his presence as the “sixth band member,” allowing him to trick investors into believing he was making a massive profit off music sales.

Many people even believed he was cheating Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, but once he signed with Bertelsmann Music Group, he was not—he did not make the money his bands earned from record sales. Before Pearlman signed with BMG, he used the money he received from the insurance over the blimp crashes to fund his bands, and once he signed with BMG, the record company made most of the money, not Pearlman himself. Pearlman’s lies were how he stole money from so many people; it had nothing to do with his actual earnings.

5 Lou Pearlman Falsified Documents

Lou Fabricated Bank Statements And Companies While Pretending To Be Someone Else

Another reason why Pearlman got away with scamming his investors for so long was because he was an expert at falsifying documents. When he was younger, he created fake driver permits, but his hobby became quite serious as he got older. When he initiated his Ponzi scheme, he began to falsify all sorts of documents, including bank statements, forged signatures, and companies. However, his promises to investors were not signed by banks—they were signed by Trans Continental Airlines. Pearlman forged accounting companies to prolong his scheming.

He named his accounting company Cohen & Siegel after two notorious mobsters. Pearlman even pretended to be Harry Milner, the “president” of Trans Continental Airlines. However, the real Harry Milner was dead for quite some time, and even when he was alive, his connection to Pearlman was brief and insignificant. Pearlman successfully falsified documents and forged papers until his arrest in Indonesia. He even secured a $1 million loan from the Bank of America while the FBI actively and publicly pursued him.

4 Frankie Vazquez Committed Suicide Because Of Pearlman’s Fraud

Lou Pearlman’s Long-Time Friend And Employee Could Not Bear His Scheming

In 2004, Frankie Vazquez Jr., Lou Pearlman’s long-time close friend and employee, committed suicide. In the weeks leading up to his death, his peers began to notice Frankie’s strange behavior. He appeared frazzled and confused and was often disheveled in public. He lost a lot of weight very suddenly, and his behavior seemed crazed and delirious. Right before he died, Frankie and Pearlman had a big fight, and shortly after, Frankie committed suicide. Frankie discovered the truth about the schemes, and he could not handle it.

He tried getting back the money his mother had invested, to no avail. Frankie saw a Ponzi scheme spiraling out of control, and he was completely helpless to stop it. He could not live with knowing that the company he worked for and the friend he supported stole millions of dollars. Furthermore, Pearlman seemed completely unfazed when Frankie died, almost like he did not care. However, when the FBI began closing in on him, he distracted himself with Frankie’s death, firmly believing that someone had murdered Frankie when that was just simply not the case.

3 Only 10 Million Dollars Have Been Recovered Of The 500 Million Stolen

Only 2 Percent Has Been Recovered From The Longest Running Ponzi Scheme In American History

At the end of Netflix’s documentary Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scheme, a brief note appears, explaining that once the FBI had seized Lou Pearlman’s accounts, they, along with financial reporters, discovered that he stole $500 million. However, FBI agents were only able to recover $10 million of it, which is only 2 percent of the money he stole from his investors. Pearlman’s Ponzi scheme is also the longest-running Ponzi scheme in American history, lasting well over 20 years.

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2 Lou Pearlman’s Travels With Michael Johnson Was A Coverup For Being A Fugitive

The FBI Wanted Lou While Michael Believed They Were Traveling For Business

In 2005, Michael Johnson, a member of Pearlman’s former band Natural, went into business with Pearlman, hoping to get into the industry by signing some alternative bands and starting his own TV projects. At this point, Lou Pearlman was no longer his boss or manager—they were business partners. However, when FBI agents began closing in on Lou Pearlman, he escaped the United States with Michael and began traveling around the world. However, Michael Johnson had no idea that the FBI was investigating Lou Pearlman. Michael was under the impression that he and Pearlman were traveling for business-related reasons.

Johnson was so excited about the next chapter of his life that he did not realize Pearlman was on the run as a fugitive. The two ended up in Bali, Indonesia, and at that point, the FBI had already announced they were looking to arrest Pearlman. Pearlman completely relied on Michael Johnson for his freedom—so much so that anything Pearlman did while they were abroad was in Johnson’s name, something else that Michael did not know about. Pearlman had to cover his tracks, considering he was still successfully falsifying documents and receiving money from investors and bank loans.

1 Trans Continental Airlines Was Not Real

Trans Continental Airlines Was Never A Real Airline And Never Had Any Planes

Lou Pearlman’s company, Trans Continental Airlines, was entirely falsified. Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam explains how Pearlman acquired investors by promoting Trans Continental Airlines as a company with 50 planes that corporations and wealthy people always rented. However, none of that actually happened. He did not use the money he stole from investors for Trans Continental Airlines— he used the money to advance his bands and his own career. Lou Pearlman’s original company, Airship International Ltd., created blimps; otherwise, he never owned any planes or flying vehicles. It was just one big scam.

Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (2024)

Lou Pearlman, the mastermind behind some of the biggest boy bands of the ’90s, rises to fame by creating groups like the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and O-Town. The docuseries delves into his exploitation of these bands, revealing the darker side of his legacy, including accusations of fraud and manipulation.

Release Date

July 24, 2024