Lou Pearlman Sentenced to 25 Years

Lou Pearlman, who created the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison on four federal charges.But Judge G. Kendall Sharp in Orlando, Florida, said Wednesday he would reduce the sentence by one month for every $1 million that Lou Pearlman returned to the investors he stole from. Pearlman cheated investors and banks out of more than $300 million.Pearlman pleaded guilty in March to two counts of conspiracy, money laundering and using false statements in a bankruptcy proceeding.

He is most famous for creating “boy bands” that sold millions of records. But prosecutors alleged he bilked thousands of people out of millions of dollars in a decades-long investment scam.During sentencing, Sharp held up a book with letters from Pearlman's victims, saying they included "his family, his close friends and people in their 70s and 80s who have lost their life savings."