Former Backstreet Boys and *NSync string-puller Lou Pearlman has been sentenced to 25 years in the clink for money laundering and tricking me into buying shit albums that only had two good songs apiece in the late '90s. Well, that last part isn't part of the actual case, but I would have slapped it on there if I were the judge.Here are the details, from Reuters:
U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp gave Pearlman the chance to cut his prison time by offering a one-month reprieve for every $1 million in cash he helps a bankruptcy trustee recover for his victims.Theoretically, Pearlman could cancel his entire 300-month sentence by repaying the $300 million debt.
His lawyer, Fletcher Peacock, said in a written plea that 25 years amounted to a "sentence to death in prison" for the 53-year-old impresario who lived a jet-set life of mansions and luxury cars before the fraud scheme collapsed.
In an audacious two-decade scam, Pearlman admitted in his plea agreement to enticing individuals and banks to invest millions of dollars in two companies which existed only on paper -- Transcontinental Airlines Travel Services Inc and Transcontinental Airlines Inc.
He won investors' confidence with fake financial statements created by a fictitious accounting firm.
Vanity Fair did a pretty hot article on "Big Poppa" Lou last fall, called "Mad About The Boys," which alleges he was into more than just fingering cash.