The Life and Times of Sean Mitchell - "Es Aqua, Meum Amicus"

Louie Louie (Pearlman)...Shame on Youie!

Lou Pearlman. Can you really say that name without wincing...Even slightly? Try it. Slowly. Loooou Peeeaaarlmaaan. (mbl-buh-bluh) (I almost gagged) His is a name that evokes definite reaction one way or another. Definite slime. The story goes that he owned a charter airline company (Trans Continental) that once booked New Edition - or maybe it was New Kids On The Block. Anyway, always the opportunist, he did a quick and dirty balance sheet in his head (while they were on the plane) and thought, "I can exploit kids just as well as this Maurice Starr guy is exploiting these kids!" By Job...! OK, maybe it didn't go EXACTLY like that, but he did get the idea from the Maurice Starr bands while he was shuffling them around the country. And exploit he did.

Busy, busy, busy.

Pearlman has been busy. He has been extremely busy ripping off investors and employees in what appears to be a much more basic version of Enron. It goes like this: Get your employees to invest in what you claim to be a phenomenal opportunity to make great returns for pennies. Back it by your REPUTATION (What?). Shuffle funds around a lot to make it look legit, and then siphon funds out into your own accounts. Hmmm. Slime! But he's been busy keeping his slime machine running by producing more slime to run it. Just like Andrew Fastow did at Enron. Only Pearlman prayed on the naive dreams of young, would-be entertainment stars to create the magic beans. The most recent vehicles used to mislead were named Wilhemina Modeling, Web Style Network, and Fashion Rock. All of these were or still are Trans Continental companies. All of them prayed on the desire of youth to become famous despite their lack of talent. All of them are/were making lots of cash on the hard sell of the dream. And none of them ever came through on that promise. He also keeps company with some of the most notoriously slimy Internet entrepreneurs out there.

The End is Near

Well, Lou was finally busted. He hasn't been paying the bills at his headquarters. Investors want their cash. Employees want their cash AND PAYCHECKS! The bank moved to foreclose on his headquarters in Orlando. His house was raided. His offices were raided. A Receiver was appointed to liquidate his business assets (well, some of the businesses). His pyramid scheme was uncovered. The lawsuits are piling up AND Pearlman is nowhere to be found. He was last reported in Germany promoting his new boy band. (sigh) Yes, it appears that it is back to the basics for Lou. Starting all over again in a new country with new talent (or not). If it works, it works.

posted by Sean C. Mitchell @ 10:30 PM