Ex-investor bets on Lou Pearlman's death

ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 21 (UPI) -- A former investor in a Lou Pearlman business has agreed to buy three lapsing life-insurance policies in case the former U.S. boy-band manager dies.

Julian Benscher, who invested in an Orlando, Fla., airship business Pearlman owned in the 1990s, said he would buy the policies, make up delinquent premiums and split the proceeds with bankruptcy creditors if Pearlman dies, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge must approve the deal on the policies, which Pearlman took out in 1997 and 1998.

Pearlman -- who managed the Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync and US5 -- was indicted by a federal grand jury in June on charges of defrauding investors and banks of more than $100 million.

"He is not the fittest-looking person I've ever seen," Benscher, 41, of England, said of Pearlman, 53.

"I knew the policies were out there and probably were going to lapse. It would be a way to get something back for the (bankruptcy) estate in the event something happens," Benscher said.

Pearlman was expelled from the Indonesian resort of Bali June 14 and handed to U.S. law enforcement officials who had an arrest warrant for bank fraud. He is being held without bail at an Orlando jail.