Former boy band manager sued in Ponzi plot

NEW YORK, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- A New York dentist says he and his family were taken by a former boy-band manager and alleged Ponzi planner, saying he refused to return their investments.

Lou Pearlman, a Queens native who managed *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys, recently disappeared from his Orlando, Fla., home amid allegations that he'd tricked at least 1,400 investors out of $317 million, the New York Post reported Monday.

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying so-called profits to early investors out of the money received by later investors.

"I'm wiped out. My parents are wiped out," Steven Sarin, who is suing Pearlman, told the Post. "My parents are in their 80s. They don't need this."

The Sarins started investing in Pearlman's air charter firm in the 1980s, Sarin said, adding that Pearlman said they'd make 20 percent or more a year on their investments.