5 facts from "Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam" showing how NSYNC, Backstreet and more got fooled

Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (Netflix)

Pearlman's business was described as a plane leasing company built off of investor money. Through his seemingly successful business, he was able to invest in his musical pursuits.

After helping the band New Kids on the Block charter a plane, Pearlman decided his passion would be boy bands.

However, one of Pearlman's boy band members, Michael Johnson of Natural said, "He was financing Backstreet and NSYNC himself out of the money recovered from the insurance of cashed blimps. But he didn't have any more money from his insurance scheme.

"He knew a bunch of people in Germany through his old Nazi mentor, Wullenkemper. So he went and sold his soul to BMG. And it was the worst deal.

"All of the money that was made by Backstreet, by NSYNC, Lou was getting a tiny, tiny, tiny fraction of that. He used the bands as a front, the BMG deal as a front, to look like he's this super successful music mogul."

Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (Netflix)

The docuseries brings up the allegations of pedophilia that surrounded Pearlman but most of the series participants claimed they did not have any experiences with Pearlman that crossed a line.

O-Town band member Erik-Michael Estrada said “Never saw it. Wasn’t a part of my life. Wasn’t a part of my experience." 

But he continued, "However, there was some suspect behavior. If those things actually did happen, I feel bad for any victims and anyone who was taken advantage of."

Kirkpatrick's own experience was a little different in comparison. He said, "[Pearlman would] always talk [about], ‘I need you guys in shape, whatever.’ Started coming up, grabbing our arms. Then it was like, ‘Well, let me see your abs.’ You’re like a 50-, 60-year-old guy — that’s too far." 

Pearlman's former assistant said, "[Pearlman] was touchy-feely with the guys, the younger ones, especially." 

Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (Netflix)

After several years with Pearlman and what was described by Chris Kirkpatrick as only receiving one check for $10,000, both the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC believed that Pearlman was cheating them out of their hard-earned paychecks.

Kirkpatrick from NSYNC said, "I felt like a puppet. I'm doing what this guy tells me to do and I didn't know why. The most trusted person in our circle was a crook." 

While AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys said, "We were blindsided to Lou being the sixth member of the group. You're going to make your management commission but you're also gonna make exactly how much the five of us make, and you're not out there doing what we're doing."

The Backstreet Boys and NSYNC eventually bought Pearlman out for a whopping $64 million settlement.

Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (Netflix)

After he received his $60 million payout settlement from his bands, Pearlman's defense attorney, Cheney Mason, said he got his first taste of Pearlman being "not so honorable."

"Of the approximately 64 million dollars that we settled on that would be owed to Mr. Pearlman, I was entitled to close to 16 million dollars of that as our fees, and it never happened," Mason explained.

So Mason told Pearlman, "I'm going to sue your a**."

This then led Mason to call an FBI Special Agent, Scott Skinner. In the lawsuit, Pearlman had to produce a financial statement. "He didn't want to pay Mason, and his financial statement made him look pretty poor. You compare it to one he submitted to the bank a week or two before, you got bank fraud. Easy," Skinner explained.

Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam (Netflix)

Pearlman's Ponzi scheme came to a head in 2006. Skinner described that the lack of new investors made it difficult to maintain the story Pearlman was telling. Investors began to demand their money, which Trans Continental did not have.

Soon after, Trans Continental and Pearlman's office and home were raided by the FBI. However, Pearlman had already left the country six weeks before the raid.

Ultimately, the FBI found that Trans Continental did not own any airplanes. There were no operations other than the larger investment scam.

Mason said, "Pearlman was a master forger. He would forge signatures and create false seals. Lou Pearlman had totally false bank statements, tax returns."

In 2008, Pearlman was sentenced to 25 years in prison on charges of conspiracy, money laundering and making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding. Eight years later, Pearlman died of cardiac arrest in prison.

The docuseries adds, "Of the $500 million Lou Pearlman stole only $10 million has been recovered. Nearly 2,000 individuals and families invested with Pearlman over more than 30 years. It was the longest-running Ponzi scheme in American history."