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The Honolulu Advertiser

Updated at 9:40 a.m., Monday, June 18, 2007

Boy-band mogul facing charge may pass through Hawaii

Associated Press

 

A photo released by the U.S. Marshals' Office shows Lou Pearlman on Guam. Pearlman faces a federal charge of bank fraud and would be transported from Guam within 10 days — probably to Hawai'i or California — before arriving in Florida.

AP Phgoto/Pacific Daily

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ORLANDO, Fla. — The man who created the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync agreed to be returned to Florida from Guam to face a federal bankruptcy charge, officials said Monday.

It was not immediately clear when Lou Pearlman would leave the U.S. territory of Guam. Deputy U.S. Marshal Jimmy Disbrow said he would be transported from Guam within 10 days — probably to Hawai'i or California. From there, Disbrow said, it could take two or three weeks before Pearlman arrives in Florida.

"It's really up in the air right now," Disbrow said.

Pearlman was arrested last week on one count of bank fraud in Indonesia. He was expelled from the resort island of Bali after the FBI contacted authorities there, transferred to U.S. custody and flown to Guam for a hearing.

Pearlman is accused of fraudulently securing nearly $20 million in bank loans with documents from a made-up accounting firm. The criminal complaint against him was filed in March and unsealed last week after authorities found him.

Assets have been liquidated in two bankruptcy cases against Pearlman and his companies, and the entertainment mogul has for months ignored court actions against him.

Florida investigators separately allege Pearlman defrauded more than 1,000 individual investors out of more than $315 million in a long-running Ponzi scheme. Several banks say he collectively owes them more than $120 million, according to bankruptcy court documents.