Manhandling The Band

His assets have been liquidated; his freedom’s gone. But just when it seemed like the saga of Lou "Big Poppa" Pearlman could be drawing to a close, accusations of sexual predation and improper relations with former boy band clients surfaced in Vanity Fair.

Pearlman may have been the push behind the boy band phenomenon of the ’90s, launching the careers of ‘Nsync, Backstreet Boys, L.F.O. and Aaron Carter, but the hands-on techniques described in the report have raised a few red flags regarding the mogul’s motives for entering the music business.

Former assistant Steve Mooney told VF Pearlman preyed on his young protégés, and recounted a time when Big Poppa explained to him just what it would take to jumpstart his singing career.

"I’ll never forget this as long as I live. He leaned back in his chair, in his white terry cloth robe and white underwear, and spread his legs," Mooney said. "And then he said, and these were his exact words, ‘You’re a smart boy. Figure it out.’"

Mooney told the magazine the Trans Continental impresario’s perversions were well known among his clientele.

"I would absolutely say the guy was a sexual predator. All the talent knew what Lou’s game was," he said, later adding that one singer who’d been groped by Pearlman told him that "if a guy wants to massage me, and I’m getting a million dollars for it, you just go along with it. It’s the price you got to pay."

L.F.O. frontman Rick Cronin said when Pearlman wanted something from one of the boys, he made it clear, taking little discretion in his advances.

"He was so touchy feely, always grabbing your shoulders, touching you, rubbing your abs. It was so obvious and disgusting," Cronin told VF. "I avoided him like the plague … He’d call late at night to come over and talk about a tour and you’d get there and he’d be sitting there in boxers."

Other former clients recounted Pearlman’s inappropriate behavior and Jane Carter, mother of former Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, reportedly said she "tried to warn all the mothers … to expose him for what he was years ago."

Formal charges have yet to be filed regarding the boy band svengali’s alleged sexual misconduct.

Pearlman remains in an Orlando jail on separate federal indictments in three counts of bank fraud and single counts of mail and wire fraud. Several banks say he collectively owes them more than $120 million, according to bankruptcy court documents. Florida investigators have also separately alleged he defrauded more than 1,000 individual investors out of more than $315 million.