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MIKE BURN
Generally Crazy Guy
Joined: 08 Nov 2001
Posts: 4825
Location: Frankfurt / Europe
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 Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 4:21 pm Post subject: Brains Behind Boy Bands Steals Millions From Seniors |
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| Quote: | ABC News
Pop Music Manager Goes From Living Large to Living at Large
Brains Behind Boy Bands Steals Millions From Seniors in Pyramid Scheme, Now on the Lam
April 16, 2007 — By all accounts, Lou Pearlman, the millionaire pop music mogul who virtually invented boy bands, has led a charmed life.
It was his charm, investigators say, which helped him to bilk more than 1,400 people out of hundreds of millions of dollars in a classic pyramid investing scheme.
Pearlman is now at large, and his whereabouts remain unknown. His alleged victims — some of them now destitute — are left to wonder how they were taken by the man who created and once managed the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync.
"I lost everything," said John Spears, an 80-year-old, wheelchair-bound veteran who invested his life savings, some $200,000, in what he was led to believe was an insured interest-bearing savings fund.
According to Florida state officials, Pearlman swindled people out of $317 million and, more surprisingly, bilked banks out of an additional $150 million.
That money allowed him to lead a lavish lifestyle. Pearlman owned a Rolls Royce Phantom, a Gulfstream private jet and a 15,000-square-foot Florida mansion.
State and federal investigators, as well as lawyers for the alleged victims, say Pearlman and his associates sold investors, many of them senior citizens, phony securities which he called an "employee investment savings account" through his company Trans Continental Airlines Inc.
In numerous documents obtained by ABCNEWS.com, Trans Continental assured investors that their money was insured both through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the well-known insurance brokers AIG and Lloyd's of London.
By offering reasonable interest rates, investors did not initially believe they were being scammed, lawyers for the victims say. Some initial investors were paid quarterly with money invested by new investors. Others, like Spears, "never saw a dime."
"It was clever how he did stuff," said Robert Persante, a Florida lawyer who represents eight people — including Spears — who accuse Pearlman of fraud. "He would advertise to senior citizens and say he was FDIC insured but he wasn't and couldn't be." |
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droolymutt
No Underblurb
Joined: 25 Jul 2002
Posts: 6721
Location: Montreal, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 3:30 am Post subject: |
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Well, you know what skews this story for me?
It's quite fundamental. There *aren't* any brains behind Boy Bands.
Just the same old greed sucking the mindless masses.
But hey. Whatcha gonna do?
Laugh? Cry? Ignore? Pray? Load a Gun? Try to Educate?
Or post on bulletin boards?
Try to Create positive Music?
I don' t know.
I'm still searching for the answer.......
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MIKE BURN
Generally Crazy Guy
Joined: 08 Nov 2001
Posts: 4825
Location: Frankfurt / Europe
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| Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 5:36 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | "I lost everything," said John Spears, an 80-year-old, wheelchair-bound veteran who invested his life savings, some $200,000, in what he was led to believe was an insured interest-bearing savings fund. |
(Pearlman in front of his 'property' in Orlando/Florida)
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droolymutt
No Underblurb
Joined: 25 Jul 2002
Posts: 6721
Location: Montreal, Canada
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| Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:48 am Post subject: |
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I know clearly what you're saying, Mike, my Friend......
And that kind of profiteering from the innocents or helpless makes me crazy with anger.....
I know it bothers you too...
I'm just not sure how to deal with it....
It's good to see others really Care, and understand, though..
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Yj2
Joined: 25 Jan 2002
Posts: 340
Location: Frankfurt / Germany
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| Posted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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I think we just gotta ignore 'em. Fill the world with intelligent, good and positive music. Show the alternatives to that dump they call music. But don't you try to educate the masses. The only chance is to change things through the backdoor.
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