Disgraced former 'NSYNC and Backstreet Boys manager gathered info on alleged cop killer.
By Gil Kaufman
Lou Pearlman Photo: Evan Agostini/ Getty Images
Even as federal investigators were finishing work on their
$300 million fraud case against disgraced former boy-band entrepreneur Lou Pearlman, the ex-
Backstreet Boys backer was gathering information on a man held in a nearby cell in order to turn those details over to cops.
Sitting in the Orange County jail in Florida, Pearlman reportedly listened intently as fellow inmate Davin Smith told him about the October 7 killing of off-duty Orlando police officer Alfred Gordon, whom Smith is accused of gunning down during a botched robbery,
according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Pearlman took notes and drew diagrams based on Smith's story, after overhearing another inmate ask Smith what he was charged with. "We killed a cop," Smith reportedly replied. Smith and his co-defendant have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The paper obtained a transcript of a 28-minute interview between Pearlman and Orange County sheriff's detectives from October 30, during which Pearlman, 54, spoke repeatedly about hearing Smith, 19, brag about the crime. Most of the overheard conversations were with another inmate, but Pearlman spoke to Smith himself a few times as the two men left the common shower area, after Smith said he recognized Pearlman from "Making the Band."
As Smith reportedly described what happened the morning Gordon was shot, Pearlman took notes on the story at the instruction of his lawyers. Pearlman "provided a statement to law enforcement that was useful in the sheriff's office investigation of our case," state prosecutor Robin Wilkinson told the
Sentinel. Pearlman, who pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges earlier this year and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors, is listed as a potential witness in the murder trial.
In May, Pearlman was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for his role in a decades-long financial scheme that prosecutors say defrauded investors and banks out of hundreds of millions of dollars. He was moved last week to a medium-security prison in Atlanta, and one of his lawyers said he will seek a federal sentence reduction in the future based on the "very valuable and relevant" information he has provided in the Gordon murder investigation.
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