The man 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 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.