Claims against boy-band impresario grow

Claims against boy-band impresario Lou Pearlman have grown to more than $130 million through a spate of lawsuits by creditors and investors related to his business interests that range from an airline leasing company to restaurants.

That total does not include $33 million judges have recently ordered him to pay on previous lawsuits, the Orlando Sentinel reported in Friday editions.

The latest suit, filed here Thursday in Circuit Court by Bank of America, alleges the founder of the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and US-5 has defaulted on business and personal loans worth more than $17 million.

A week earlier the same bank filed a mortgage-forclosure suit seeking more than $25 million or possession of Orlando's Church Street Station entertainment complex.

A Pearlman spokeswoman did not have an immediate comment Friday, but his companies issued a statement Thursday saying rumors the Bank of America already had taken over Church Street Station were false.

In a November interview with The Associated Press, Pearlman blamed the lawsuits on people trying to cash in on his success.

"I know a lot of people come at me, as a deep-pockets theory," he said then. "The more successful you get the more lawsuits you get, unfortunately."