The book was thrown at Lou Pearlman today, after pleading guilty in March to 2 counts of conspiracy & single counts of money laundering & presenting a false claim in bankruptcy court. Pearlman is receiving the maximum sentence of 25 years in federal prison for scamming millions of dollars out of investors. U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp noted that many victims were Pearlman’s relatives, friends and retirees in their 70s or 80s who lost everything.

“The sympathy factor just doesn’t run very high with the court,” Sharp said.

The Judge said he will be willing to reduce Pearlman’s sentence by one month for every $1 million returned to investors. No word yet on how or if any of the investors will ever be compensated for their losses.

I’m sorry that doesn’t even make any sense to me, shouldn’t he return all of his money since he really didn’t earn any of it to begin with!?

Pearlman did make a courtroom statement, here is what he had to say:

“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.”

Apparently Pearlman had every intention of paying back his investors & claims to have returned about $103 million. Over his successful entertainment ventures in the 1990s it was lawsuits & alleged fraudulent business practices that prevented him from returning the money.

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