By Barbara Liston

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.

Pearlman said he was developing US 5 at the time of his arrest and the bankruptcy trustees for his companies agreed he had the potential to earn "significant profits" on the band -- money that could be used to pay restitution to his victims.

Pearlman proposed a plan for him to have supervised access to a telephone and Internet connection while in custody to pursue the business plan.

Federal prosecutors opposed the plan, noting that Pearlman's fraud proved he could not be trusted in conducting business by phone or Internet.

(Editing by Jim Loney and John O'Callaghan)


© Copyright 2007 Reuters.