it just happened

Lou Pearlman Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison

Lou Pearlman

Photo: Getty Images

Queens native and boy-band impresario and alleged Backstreet Boy molester Lou Pearlman was sentenced today to 25 years in jail for fraud. “A lot of it is New York money,” receiver Gerard McHale told New York last year of the $317 million Pearlman encouraged investors, including some in their seventies and eighties, to sink into his fake companies, “especially the significant investments.” The Florida judge told Pearlman he’d get one month off his sentence for every million he paid back, which means that he theoretically could avoid jail by paying off the $300 million. But would that ease the wrath of the people he bilked? “He should be turned over to us,” investor James Taylor fumed to Reuters this morning.

Related: Boy-Band Bust [NYM]

Lou Pearlman Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison