Florida’s governor is being slapped today with a scathing lawsuit that charges that he turned a blind eye to a massive Ponzi scheme run by boy-band impresario Lou Pearlman, who is accused of swindling New Yorkers to the tune of $56 million, The Post has learned.
Gov. Charlie Crist allegedly got illegal campaign donations from Pearlman totaling nearly $11,000 even as he was supposed to be investigating the Queens native as Florida’s attorney general, according to the lawyer filing the suit.
Crist also allegedly accepted rides on Pearlman’s private jet without adequately reimbursing him, and benefited from fund-raisers held at Pearlman’s Orlando-area home without properly covering the costs, said lawyer James Lowy.
Crist, who took office this year, did not return the tainted donations even after Pearlman’s sleazy actions began making headlines in recent weeks, and after long knowing that there were serious concerns about his investment scheme, Lowy said.
A Crist spokeswoman had no immediate comment.
“When Charlie Crist takes the first dollar from Lou Pearlman, he’s doing something wrong as attorney general,” said Lowy. “He’s ethically compromised, at a minimum. He wasn’t doing his job; he was trying to raise money to get another job. He took $11,000 from him and lots of other goodies, and he didn’t lay an indictment on him or his cronies.”
Steven Sarin, a Manhattan dentist who, with his parents and brother, were allegedly swindled out of $1 million by Pearlman, described the former *NSYNC manager as a smooth operator.
“We would be taken out to dinner when he came to New York. He said everything was going great,” said Sarin. “He seemed very believable, very friendly. You wouldn’t think there were any problems.”
Sarin, who has a separate pending lawsuit, said that when his brother asked Pearlman last year about claims that investors were not getting paid, “He pooh-poohed it. He said people were just picking on him.”
Lowy represents about 75 alleged Pearlman victims who, with Crist, the state of Florida and others, are defendants in the Florida federal court action that charges Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act violations.
Several plaintiffs are Pearlman’s cousins, who, like the others, were allegedly lured into investing in his company’s stock or making CD-like deposits in exchange for what were purported to be lucrative returns.
Pearlman – who also managed the Backstreet Boys – is believed to have fled the United States for Germany as authorities continue their investigation of him and $317 million in missing funds.