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To: StockDung who wrote (102786)	3/7/2008 11:18:46 AM
From: scion	Respond to of 122088

Pearlman got away with his scams for 20 years by inventing an accounting firm and an accountant who impressed bankers with their strong but entirely false financial statements. "What were those companies?" the judge asked Pearlman. "They weren't," Pearlman replied. Mogul behind NSYNC and Backstreet Boys admits £150m fraud Last Updated: 7:09am GMT 07/03/2008 telegraph.co.uk A former boyband mogul who launched the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC yesterday pleaded guilty to an audacious scheme that swindled banks and investors out of more than $300 million (£150m). Lou Pearlman, 53, invented bogus accountants, fake bank accounts and used a dead man's signature to obtain the money, according to a plea deal struck with prosecutors. Under the deal, the disgraced mogul pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy involving bank and investor fraud, one of money laundering and one of making false claims in a bankruptcy. "I'm accepting full responsibility," Pearlman, who wore a blue jail uniform and shackles, told the judge, G Kendall Sharp. Mr Sharp spent over an hour questioning Pearlman about the details of the fraud laid out in the plea deal. A sentencing date of May 21 was set. The crimes carry a penalty of up to 25 years in prison and $1 million (£496,496) in fines but the deal offers Pearlman the possibility of a reduced sentence in exchange for full cooperation in recovering money to repay investors. He has agreed to help prosecutors try others involved in the scams and locate assets to compensate his victims, although authorities remain unsure how much of the money remains. Soneet Kapila, a bankruptcy trustee attending the hearing in Orlando, Florida, on behalf of Pearlman's victims, called the scheme "very sophisticated". Mr Kapila said he was trying to locate assets of Pearlman and his companies to distribute to the victims but so far had accumulated only $2.5 million (£1.24m). Pearlman's house in the exclusive enclave of Windermere, near Orlando, was set to be auctioned on Saturday. Mr Kapila said he had filed lawsuits against HSBC Bank and a Pearlman associate seeking approximately $5 million (£2.48m) from each, and expects to file up to a dozen additional lawsuits within the next month to recover assets valued at up to $8 million (£3.96m). "There is a substantial amount of unaccounted money. We have some trails but we are not there yet," he said. "At some point, there has to be an answer to some unexplained money." Pearlman got away with his scams for 20 years by inventing an accounting firm and an accountant who impressed bankers with their strong but entirely false financial statements. "What were those companies?" the judge asked Pearlman. "They weren't," Pearlman replied. Pearlman also admitted signing documents with the name of a dead man and creating a fake seal for a bogus German bank to shore up his companies' image. Prosecutors counted at least 250 individual victims who lost more than $200 million (£99.26m), plus 10 financial institutions that lost $100 million (£49.63m), according to the deal. After the hearing, fraud victim David Mueller of Brandon, Florida, who lost at least $30,000 (£14,889), said the investments looked good "for normal people like ourselves but I'm surprised at how easily he could buffalo all these banks". More than 10 banks, including HSBC, First National Bank & Trust and Bank of America, were listed as having lent money or provided a line of credit to Pearlman or his companies. telegraph.co.uk

To: StockDung who wrote (102786)	5/21/2008 12:04:08 PM
From: scion	Respond to of 122088

Pearlman Sentenced To 25 Years In Scam POSTED: 8:59 am EDT May 21, 2008 UPDATED: 9:55 am EDT May 21, 2008 wesh.com ORLANDO, Fla. -- The man who created the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Wednesday in connection with a decades-long investment scam. A judge in Orlando stated that he would trim one month from the sentence for each $1 million that Lou Pearlman returns. Pearlman pleaded guilty in March to two counts of conspiracy, money laundering and using false statements in a bankruptcy proceeding. Pearlman was most famous for creating "boy bands" that sold millions of records. But prosecutors said he bilked thousands of people out of untold millions in the scam. Pearlman's attorneys tried twice to get his sentencing delayed. But federal Judge G. Kendall Sharp denied both motions. wesh.com

To: StockDung who wrote (102786)	7/30/2008 1:42:39 PM
From: scion	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 122088

Jailed Lou Pearlman snitches on suspected cop killer Jim Leusner OrlandoSentinel.com Sentinel exclusive Sentinel Staff Writer July 30, 2008 orlandosentinel.com While federal investigators were building the $300 million fraud case against Lou Pearlman, he was conducting an investigation of his own. Held in the Orange County Jail with a man accused of killing a cop, the flamboyant boy-band founder began listening, taking notes and drawing diagrams that he would later turn over to investigators. Over three weeks, Pearlman said, he listened as nearby inmate Davin Smith recounted the Oct. 7 slaying of off-duty Orlando police Officer Alfred Gordon, who was gunned down in the parking lot of a Pine Hills bank. "What are you charged with?" Pearlman said he overheard another inmate ask Smith. "We killed a cop," he said Smith replied. Pearlman's jailhouse disclosures were released to the Orlando Sentinel on Tuesday by Orange-Osceola County prosecutors. Smith's first-degree murder trial is set for November. A co-defendant, Hugo Terry, 18, is slated for trial next month. Both have pleaded not guilty. In the transcript of a 28-minute interview with Orange County sheriff's detectives Oct. 30, Pearlman talked repeatedly about hearing Smith boast of the crime committed with an associate two years younger, whom he called "homeboy." Included in the documents were copies of Pearlman's handwritten notes and diagrams he drew of the pod where he and Smith, 19, were housed at the jail. Pearlman said that in early October 2007, he heard Smith talk to another inmate, Jay Fine, about getting a lawyer. Fine then persuaded Smith to tell him about his case. At one point, Smith said he considered himself a celebrity like former professional athlete O.J. Simpson and needed a celebrity lawyer, Pearlman said. Although most discussions were between Smith and Fine, Pearlman said Smith spoke with him a few times after Smith left the shower. Pearlman, founder of the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync bands, said the suspect knew him from his television talent show, Making the Band. According to Pearlman, Smith said that on the morning Gordon was shot, he and an associate robbed another man of an ATM card but couldn't get money out of the machine. Frustrated, they saw Gordon sitting in the bank parking lot and decided to rob him. Smith flashed his gun while Gordon was going for his weapon, Pearlman said. "So Smith shot him," Pearlman said. "He said it happened . . . so fast, Smith said his homeboy and he didn't know that he was a cop. They immediately ran and they didn't, uh, rob the guy." Smith later said he was concerned that his "skin" would be found on the murder weapon. He also said he knew who the Crimeline tipster was who led police to the 9 mm pistol used in the crime -- and bragged that he owned two rifles and a pistol stolen in Miami, Pearlman said. Pearlman, 54, said he took notes at the instructions of his lawyers, Don West and Fletcher Peacock. Pearlman "provided a statement to law enforcement that was useful in the Sheriff's Office investigation of our case," said state prosecutor Robin Wilkinson. Pearlman has been listed as a potential witness in the trial. Earlier this year, Pearlman pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors and agents. He was sentenced in June to 25 years in federal prison and last week was moved to the medium-security U.S. penitentiary in Atlanta. Peacock said when he seeks a federal sentence reduction for Pearlman in the future, he will tell the judge about Pearlman's "very valuable and relevant" help in the Gordon murder investigation. Sarah Lundy of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Jim Leusner can be reached at 407-420-5411 or jleusner@orlandosentinel.com. orlandosentinel.com