Ex-band manager returns to U.S. on Con Air

ORLANDO, Fla., June 25 (UPI) -- Ex-boy band manager Lou Pearlman is returning to the United States to answer a federal bank fraud charge after his arrest and deportation from Indonesia.

Pearlman, 53, was to be brought to Orlando, Fla., from Guam -- via Los Angeles and Oklahoma City -- aboard a U.S. Marshals Service jet, dubbed Con Air, the Orlando Sentinel reported Monday.

Pearlman, who managed Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, is under criminal investigation in Florida after being linked to alleged securities and bank fraud.

Pearlman also was charged in both state and federal courts with running a fraudulent "employee investment savings account" program for two decades through his Trans Continental Airlines company.

Several civil suits, including one by the Florida Office of Financial Regulation, allege he received more than $317 million from more than 1,800 investors who were told the money was going into safe, secured, high-interest accounts. Instead, the suits allege the money went into a Ponzi scheme.

In addition, a dozen banks have sued Pearlman after foreclosing on more than $130 million in loans.