Story highlights Pearlman, 62, had a "horrible dark side," said his ex-attorney

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(CNN) Lou Pearlman, the disgraced star-maker behind 1990s boy bands *NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys, has died in prison, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The 62-year-old producer died Friday at a Miami hospital after an illness, according to Leslie Castro, executive assistant at the Federal Correctional Institution in Miami where Pearlman had most recently been serving a 25-year sentence for running Ponzi and bank schemes. He was convicted in 2008 of fraud and swindling investors out of more than $300 million.

In the mid-1990s he formed the iconic boy bands responsible for hits like "I Want It That Way" and "Quit Playing Games (with my Heart)" from the Backstreet Boys and "Bye Bye Bye," from *NSYNC.

An official cause of death was not announced.

Pearlman had a 'horrible dark side'

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