ORLANDO, Fla. -- A bankruptcy court wants to find every cent belonging to accused con man Lou Pearlman and they think his former lawyer may be the key. Monday, a judge demanded she hand over records that may shed light on hidden assets. Only Channel 9 was there when a judge threatened severe sanctions for Rene Chamberlain if she didn't hand over the information. Chamberlain has ignored repeated requests by the trustee in charge of recovering Pearlman's assets. The money's being used to refund the banks and investors who say they've lost millions of dollars in business dealings with Pearlman. He's now facing a federal indictment.
The team that's working to recover Pearlman's assets asked a bankruptcy judge to throw Pearlman's former attorney in jail Monday for ignoring repeated orders to turn over documents. There's still a missing, mysterious box of documents that she says she handed over to a mystery man with an accent, because Pearlman told her to and now no one knows where it is. Entertainment lawyer Rene Chamberlain of Gotha wouldn't answer Eyewitness News questions and she did not go to jail Monday, but the bankruptcy judge threatened severe sanctions if she does not turn over her computer records involving accused con man Lou Pearlman in one week.
Attorneys for the trustee are trying to recover as many assets as possible to compensate Pearlman's victims and told the judge Monday they might ask for a criminal investigation into what they called Chamberlain's "remarkable" behavior. They said she claimed her laptop computer had been stolen, but never reported it and then later said she had back-up discs for the records. Attorneys said she didn't show up after agreeing to answer questions under oath in August. Monday, Chamberlain's attorney promised she'd turn over the computer records, but what about that mysterious box of documents?
"I think you'd have to ask Mr. Pearlman that. She's the one who gave them to somebody," explained Alan Perlman, Chamberlain's attorney. "Is she gonna be able to identify that man by phone number or whatever?" WFTV reporter Kathi Belich asked. "She's looking into it. She's looking into it," Perlman said.
The bankruptcy trustee's lawyers say Chamberlain claims to have lost her cell phone too, which might have captured the mystery man's phone number. She testified that Pearlman called her four or five months ago, when he was on the run, and told her to meet someone and give him the box of documents. All she's said is that the man spoke with either a British or Australian accent. Chamberlain said she met the mystery man along the side of the road and handed over the box. She won't say what kinds of documents were in the box. The bankruptcy trustee is hoping to find trails to transfers of money to financial institutions or documents leading to other assets that Pearlman is hiding.
Originally posted at http://www.wftv.com/news/14346011/detail.html