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      True Crime Books
      Hardcover The Hit Charade: Lou Pearlman, Boy Bands, and the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in U.S. History Book
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      ISBN: 0061579661

      ISBN13: 9780061579660

      The Hit Charade: Lou Pearlman, Boy Bands, and the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in U.S. History

      By
      Without Lou Pearlman, there would have been no Backstreet Boys, no *NSYNC, and possibly no Justin Timberlake. In the late 1990s, Pearlman's boy bands ushered out guitar-and-angst-driven grunge music, and *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys began to dominate the television and radio airwaves. At the core of this squeaky-clean pop revolution was a sinister international fraud conceived by Pearlman, a husky huckster who first honed his crooked business skills as a teenage math nerd and blimp enthusiast in Flushing, Queens. From there in the mid 1980s and from his Orlando, Florida, base in the early 1990s through 2007, he cheated hundreds of investors out of nearly $500 million. When they finally caught on to him and started demanding he return their money, the "Sixth Backstreet Boy" had already fled to Germany and then to Indonesia, where he was eventually nabbed by authorities and charged with a historic federal fraud. Tyler Gray (the only journalist to speak with Pearlman while he was in jail) weaves together the fascinating behind-the-scenes story of the greed and desperation of this boy-band mogul and monumental scam artist. Gray unravels Pearlman's twenty-year long Ponzi scheme and explores persistent rumors about alleged inappropriate behavior by Pearlman toward members of the boy bands and other young men. Along the way, former friends, family members, Pearlman business associates, and band members themselves reveal detailed accounts of everything from the heyday of their stardom to Pearlman's more troubled times. The Hit Charade starts with Pearlman's awkward youth and follows along as his juggling act becomes increasingly complex, then builds to the heartbreaking moments when investors--retirees, relatives, and friends--and government authorities discover that the man they had trusted had been cheating them all along. How did this chubby boy from middle-class Queens, who pioneered some of the music industry's most lucrative pop ensembles, mastermind one of the largest and longest running Ponzi schemes in U.S. history? Here, finally, is the true story of Lou Pearlman's epic rise and fall.

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      Format: Hardcover

      Condition: Good

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      Related Subjects

      Arts, Music & Photography Business History & Criticism Music Musical Genres Politics & Social Sciences Social Sciences True Accounts True Crime

      Customer Reviews

      5 customer ratings | 5 reviews
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      Rated 5 stars
      Fascinating Look at World-Class Con-Man

      By Thriftbooks.com User,

      The saga of Lou Pearlman will eventually occupy a prominent chapter in any book on the greatest ponzi schemes of the 21st (and late 20th) century. It is downright fascinating how a man like Pearlman could not only bilk some many people out of Millions but also somehow manage to break in the music industry as a novice and churn out acts like the Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. This is one of those books you just won't be able...

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      Rated 5 stars
      Lou Pearlman is a Big Fat Liar!

      By Thriftbooks.com User,

      I am from Orlando and I thought that I had an inside track on Pearlman, and what he was all about. As is the case with many people from Orlando, I know someone who was in business with, and got screwed over by Lou. After reading this book, I realize that I only knew the tip of the highest snowflake, on the tallest iceberg, that was Lou Pearlman. Often in cases like this, an author will try to pinpoint a time or event where...

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      Rated 5 stars
      Accent on CHARADE!

      By Thriftbooks.com User,

      Tyler Gray had a lot of information to work with to unravel the twisted story of Lou Pearlman in "Hit Charade." As one of the contributors to this tome, I realize that I never could have pulled it all together the way the author did. Gray cleverly used Lou Pearlman's "Bands, Brands, and Billions" as a base to discover the truth behind Pearlman's egocentric ramblings and faux rules of success. He shows how Mr. Pearlman's historical...

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      Rated 5 stars
      Big Time

      By Thriftbooks.com User,

      Tyler Gray has penned a page burner with his new release "The Hit Charade" I found myself glued to his book and ignoring commitments and chores to devour the 278 pages in their entirety. Finally flipping the last page and letting out a big last gasp as the weight of Pearlman's relentless financial piracy sank in and hit me hard in the heart as I felt for Pearlman's victims and their losses. Amidst all of the juggling of figures,...

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      Rated 5 stars
      A great read....

      By Thriftbooks.com User,

      I'm always one who loves a good quick read and Gray delivers with Hit Charade. While you may find the topic to be a mishmash of odd subjects - who can understand a ponzi scheme?? - the author's writing style makes it fun and understandable, and in the end it's really more about the man and why and how he bilked thousands of people out of millions. Not to mention the chapters about how Pearlman came to build the empire we know...

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