Thursday, May 22, 2008
We need this sort of treatment for our bankers here in the UK
CNN: Boy-band mogul can buy time off sentence
Lou Pearlman founded boy bands Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync
Scam bilked thousands of investors; some lost life savings
Judge says he'll shave off one month for every $1 million paid back
ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- Lou Pearlman, the man who created the Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync, was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in federal prison for engineering a decades-long scam that bilked thousands of investors out of their life savings. Lou Pealman was the boy band king, then fleeced investors of some $300 million. It was the maximum sentence the boy band mogul could receive for allegedly swindling some $300 million from investors and banks since the early 1980s.
Posted by lvmreader @ 02:55 AM (369 views) Add Comment
7 Comments
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1. planning4acrash said...
That isn't justice. If could pay off a tiny fraction and stay free. THROW AWAY THE KEYS! The money fleeced will be more than the 300m if you add opportunity cost. He should pay back by court order AND serve time.
2. d'oh said...
12*25*£1,000,000=£300,000,000
I must admit that if I was an investor I'd be happy to get my money back. Seems like clever thing for the judge to do. Still, I agree, some minimal tariff even if all the capital was paid back would certainly necessary.
3. Omg said...
"We need this sort of treatment for our bankers here in the UK"
Pathetic. Jealous. Ignorant.
4. d'oh said...
Omg - where did this statement come from: "We need this sort of treatment for our bankers here in the UK"
As for your response to it...well, whilst no individual in banking is responsible for this mess one must admit that modern banking practice seems to be more of a liability than a boon...the regulators, government, and Joe Public also have their share of blame too. The one thing that COULD be changed is the reward structure...it focusses too much on annual "booked" profits and the rewards are, for the top few thousand in the industry, nothing short of obscene. Moreover, the industry itself and the effect it has had on distorting London and hence the rest of the UK, both in terms of industry, house prices and communities is a disaster. Too many good minds are sucked out of the real economy into this cr*pshoot and its supporting services. Whilst the ability to provide monetary lubrication to the economy is important, modern finance has gone far beyond that - over 600 trillion dollars worth of derivatives contracts floating around out there by one estimate...that has nothing to do with making the world run more efficiently...that is just a financial and social time bomb waiting to destroy the world, when one big counter-party fails.
Pathetic? No, but perhaps simplistic.
Jealous? Sure, who wouldn't be. Parasites have a great life.
Ignorant? Nope...anyone can see that, in the case of housing, banks and ratings agencies have spurred this boom on by conveniently ignoring that it has been junk they have been lumping together and selling on as bricks of gold. There are people in the industry who have consciously decided to ignore this fact, and 2000 years of economic history (even Tacitus talks about the Roman house price crash in the first century AD created by loose credit followed by credit tightening!), and in my opinion, that is professional negligence and they should be locked up. They know who they are, but no court will ever be able to prove it. Instead we will see the front guys - the mortgage brokers, getting hauled over the coals.
5. planning4acrash said...
Yer, on second thoughts. Scape goat comes to mind. Where is the law suit against federal reserve and rating agencies?
6. Neo-serf said...
@3 Omg
"Pathetic. Jealous. Ignorant."
Guilty. Defensive. Running scared.
Your silence would be an admission.
7. lvmreader said...
@OMG,
Jealous? Of a fraudster? Are you a fraudster by any chance?