Boy band mogul Pearlman sentenced to 25 years (for swindling investors and banks)

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - Boy band mogul Lou Pearlman, who launched the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, was sentenced on Wednesday to 25 years in prison for swindling investors and major U.S. banks out of more than $300 million.

In an audacious two-decade-long scam, Pearlman enticed individuals and banks to invest millions of dollars in two companies that existed only on paper and won the confidence of investors with strong but fake financial statements created by a fictitious accounting firm, according to his plea agreement.

U.S. Judge G. Kendall 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."

"So the sympathy factor doesn't run high with the court," Sharp said.

Pearlman, 53, unsuccessfully sought to delay his sentencing to allow time to launch his latest creation, European pop band US 5, in the United States and Asia.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2139523420080521

[DS1]

1. Ahh, the boy diddler goes to jail

sweet

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. And his physical resemblance...

To Karl Rove is at the very least, disturbing.

[pinniped]

15. I saw him on the yahoo! homepage and thought it was that rover pig.

.

[Crowman1979]

3. That will show a lesson to those pop band manufacturers!

Now let's make way for musicians with actual talent, and pray that another wave of teen-pop doesn't happen anytime soon. Hopefully anyone who has taken part in the payola scheme will be next. :D

[silverojo]

23. Teens need music, too -- quit picking on the kids

This guy is total slime, but that doesn't mean we should stop making an entire genre of music. Let the kids have their fun, ferchrissakes.

[Dover]

4. Taking lessons from Enron?

If all the major swindlers out there right now were actually prosecuted we'd have to build more jails...

[Crowman1979]

5. Not unless...

We legalize Marijuana! Then there will be plenty of room.

[ronnie624]

6. Like many bourgeoisie Republican supporters,

the fool apparently presumed himself to be a member of the genuine elite class, and therefore above any real punishment for his crimes. If he hadn't swindled investors and major U.S. banks, and had limited his scams to the working class, just as his victims do, perhaps he would be home free.

[Greeby]

7. "In an audacious two-decade-long scam"

I thought that was all the pop bands he's rammed down our collective throats

[conspirator]

14. Backstreet boys were pretty good though. Probably the best boy band ever n/t

[Endangered Specie]

21. Isn't that like saying you are the best nail-on-chalkboard scratcher?

:evilgrin:

[salguine]

8. I don't see a stampede of people...

...rushing to his defense, pleading for leniency 'cause the music was so good.

[whistle]

9. He pulled this scam off for 20 years, wow!

[MilesColtrane]

10. The wheels of justice grind slow, but they grind exceeding fine.

Headline should read, "Karmic Payback for Boyband Creator".

[jmowreader]

11. "Launching N Sync" counts as extenuating circumstances, right?

[BlueStater]

12. What he did to music was enough of a crime

Bands are formed, not created.

[truthisfreedom]

13. $300 million. WTF did he do with it all?

How do you burn through $300 million?

[Bluebear]

16. "Bye, Bye, Bye"!

[pinniped]

17. This pig could buy his way out of prison for $300,000,000.00.

Theoretically, Pearlman could cancel his entire 300-month sentence by repaying the $300 million debt.

So, this pig swindles $300,000,000.00 and gets sentenced to 300-months. The judge will give him a get out of jail card for $300,000,000.00, which he stole in the first place.

Where the fuck is his punishment?

[ozu]

18. He doesn't have it

The money's gone. He's not repaying anything and the judge knows this. If anything that stipulation is just salt in his wound.

[pinniped]

19. Good, this white collar crook got a real sentence.

.

[Endangered Specie]

20. Glad to see they locked him up before he could strike again...

with that new pop band.

[Endangered Specie]

22. My gf and I spent a night on youtube watching all the -musicvideos from our youth...

back in the 90's

our conclusion:

what the hell were we thinking back then?!

[PassingFair]

24. Here's MY favorite BoyBand...

Must have been "influenced" by Pearlman....

(These lyrics are a SCREAM)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ica0S13BTh4