Cousin of Art Garfunkel, Pearlman began as an accountant and founding a helicopter taxi service. Then he began leasing blimps. One of the blimps crashed and Pearlman moved toward a penny stock operation. An initial public offering in 1985 for Airship International (ticker symbol: BLMP) raised $3 million in what may have been a “pump and dump” operation where while he was getting other investors in he was quietly selling his stake in the company.
Trans Continental would become the cornerstone of Pearlman’s Ponzi scheme of 84 businesses of varying degrees of legitimacy, in which investors contributed to the company’s Employee Investment Savings Accounts (EISA) program.
More blimps were involved in accidents.
The group the New Kids on the Block gave him inspiration to get into the music industry with boy bands. He invested in the bands such as Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and others. The he ended up getting sued by most of the bands and it was discovered how he had defrauded investors in his Ponzi scheme.
He fled the country and was arrested in Indonesia in June of 2007, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiracy, money laundering, and making false statements during a bankruptcy proceeding.