Swindler schemes nothing new to Vegas

Covering entertainment in Las Vegas, I must talk to criminals every week. They just haven't been caught.

But at least two past interview subjects since have been outed as swindlers, both very "Vegas" in the grandiosity of their schemes.

In 1999, the dot.com bubble burst onto the Strip in a memorable way. A company called Pixelon threw a $10 million bash at the MGM Grand Garden, hiring The Who, Tony Bennett, the Dixie Chicks and others to showcase a new concept of full-screen Internet video.

Great idea! And a great Who concert, which only cost locals $10 (and is now on DVD as "The Vegas Job"). If only the technology had worked -- no one trying to watch on their computer saw much -- and if only company head Michael Fenne hadn't really been a guy named Paul Stanley, wanted in Virginia for skipping bail on a stock-swindling conviction.

Lately we're hearing more about Lou Pearlman, the "boy band" impresario currently cooling out in a Florida jail, awaiting trial on fraud charges of scamming investors for more than $315 million in a Ponzi scheme.

A current Vanity Fair piece dishes all the sordid details of Pearlman's less-than-professional interest in young male singers. But it makes only passing mention of his involvement with Chippendales at the Rio, a successful male revue that recently celebrated its 2,000th performance.

Chippendales had a dramatic and sordid history before 1996, when Pearlman got a fire-sale deal on the valuable name. He acquired it from the widow of a guy who had contracted the murder of his partner, then killed himself hours before his sentencing.

A year before Chippendales came to the Rio in March 2002, an investment group connected to the former Chippendales club in New York bought most of the rights from Pearlman, reducing his interest to a minority stake that attorneys still are untangling.

But if you can remember the day, any association with Pearlman still was considered a good thing. He was trotted out as a jovial spokesman for the Rio show and flown in for the opening.

"That was pretty much 'first time, last time' with Lou," says Kevin Denberg, managing partner of the show. "The last time I talked to him was at the opening."

But, much like the concept of Internet TV, Denberg believes Pearlman championed a valid idea that lives on: the notion of the "man band" for grown-up 'N Sync fans. After seeing the Pussycat Dolls blow up on the pop charts, Denberg and his partners are backing an album by the Rio troupe's frontman, Bryan Cheatham.

"We think Bryan has a lot of potential. It's just a matter of putting the pieces together."

But they won't be calling Pearlman for any help with that.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays. Contact him at 383-0288 or e-mail him at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com.