Mogul In a Lock-Up

Boy-band impresario (Backstreet Boys, `N Sync, O-Town) Lou Pearlman is being held without bail an Orange County, Florida, jail awaiting trial on federal bank fraud charges relating to an elaborate Ponzi scheme that defrauded both major lenders (Bank of America recently collected the lion's share of the $7.1- million proceeds from the auction of his 16,000-square-foot estate near Orlando) and many smaller ones, totaling nearly 2,000 victims who lost an estimated, aggregate $500 million.

The boy band members mostly reached settlements with him long ago, but Aaron Carter, younger brother of BSB's Nick, is asking the bankruptcy court to return him the rights Pearlman now can't manage.

Pearlman, 54, a first cousin to Art Garfunkel, was on the lam in Bali (registered at a Westin as "A. Incognito Johnson") when a German tourist spotted him and e-mailed crackerjack St. Petersburg Times financial reporter Helen Huntley, who'd blogged heavily on Pearlman.

She tipped the F.B.I., and Indonesian authorities booted him as an undesirable on June 14. He was arrested en route to Guam, then flown in a "three-piece suit" (leg, hand and waist chains) to Florida. Denied bail as a flight risk, he's been given a federal public defender and a March trial date.

In the the most interesting civil suit against him Attorney James Lowy, himself a victim of Pearlman's investment scam, has also targeted state officials including Florida Governor Charlie Crist, accusing him of being soft on the impresario while Crist was state Attorney General.

Lowy's filings allege that Crist used Pearlman's charter fleet to whistle-stop around Florida, and enjoyed the impresario's fat campaign contributions and the hospitality of Pearlman's local stadium sky box when he should have been busting him.

If the $500 million estimate holds up, the dry cleaner's son from Queens will surpass Scientology minister Reed Slatkin as the king of Ponzi fraud. One bilked creditor bought up three lapsed insurance policies and paid back premiums on the hope of recouping that way: "He is not the fittest-looking person I've ever seen," said Brit Julian Benscher.

In successful recent auctions by the estate trustee, eager bidders bought almost every shred offered, including three assault rifles and a framed gold 45 of Garfunkel's "Crying In My Sleep."

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