# Pearlman: return the money and go free?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearlman-return-the-money-and-go-free/450131>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [May 21, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearlman-return-the-money-and-go-free/450131 "2008-05-21T17:58:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\
**Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pearlman-return-the-money-and-go-free/450131/1 "2008-05-21T17:58:13Z")

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Lou Pearlman, the creator of boy bands like Backstreet Boys and N’Sync just got sentenced to 25 years for fraud. From what i read previously in the papers he defrauded investors, a lot of whom were his own friends and family, out of about 300 million over a few decades. The judge has offered him the chance to [buy his way out of jail](http://www.wesh.com/news/16348954/detail.html) to the tune of a million per month. This would make him a free man if he was able to return all the money, which he admitedly doesn’t have. Is this a precedent we want to set though? I think Lou is five pretty boys with ok voices away from walking away scot free out of a 25 year sentence, and while the investors getting their money back is a good thing i think there should be at least some punishment even if he pays back every penny.