Lou Pearlman sentenced to 25 years

May 21, 2008 by Ian Evans

Lou Pearlman, who once managed and created the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for masterminding an investment scam that took the life savings from thousands of investors. No word yet on how many years he’ll get for creating the boy bands…

Pearlman was alleged to have swindled over $300 million from investors since the early 1980s. He entered a guilty plea in March to two counts of conspiracy as well as money laundering and presenting a false claim in bankruptcy court. U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp, who said that, “The sympathy factor just doesn’t run very high with the court,” told Pearlman he would reduce his sentence for one month for every million returned to investors.

In the courtroom, Pearlman made a statement saying that “Over the past nine months since my arrest, I’ve come to realize the harm that’s been done. I’m truly sorry and I apologize for what’s happened.”