Discredited former Backstreet Boys and NSync producer and manager Lou Pearlman died Friday night while serving a 25-year prison sentence for hatching a $300 million Ponzi scheme in 2009. Pearlman was 62.
Although the cause of death has yet to be released, Pearlman suffered a stroke in 2010 while incarceration in Texas at the low-security Federal Correctional Institution Texarkana, at which time his weight dropped from 325 pounds to 250.
The famous boy bands he represented eventually sued him in Federal Court for misrepresentation and fraud, claiming Pearlman was tapping large amounts of money from them. Those cases were settled out of court, and the terms of the agreements went undisclosed.
The impresario was later accused of running one of the largest Ponzi schemes in history. Prosecutors released a 47-page plea agreement in which Pearlman admitted guilt of money laundering, conspiracy and making false statements during a bankruptcy hearing.
Before his sentence was announced, Pearlman requested that he be permitted to develop bands while behind bars. Prosecutors objected, and he was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.
According to Reuters, “U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp gave Pearlman the chance to cut his prison time by offering a one-month reprieve for every $1 million in cash he helps a bankruptcy trustee recover for his victims.”
7 Great Third Eye Blind Songs If You Just Give Them a Chance (Video)
People hate Third Eye Blind because their first big song had "doo doo doo" in the hook, or because they blame them for songs actually recorded by other artists.
But they was doing great things long before they hilariously trolled the Republican National Convention. Here are seven songs that might make you recognize the subversive genius of Third Eye Blind.
"Never Let You Go" has a Lou Reed-like simplicity and is catchy as hell. But the catchiness of Third Eye Blind songs conceals lyrics that are complicated, personal and hyper-sexual.
Third Eye Blind once recorded an entire album about what's it's like to break up with Charlize Theron. (It happened to singer Stephan Jenkins.)
This song is from that album. At least when the rest of us go through breakups we don't have to see our ex on the cover of Vogue.
Close your eyes and ignore the Nickelbackiness of all the models in the video -- it was made at a terrible time for music. Just listen to how emotional and pretty this is.
Jenkins has taken some understandable heat for his uncool dealings with bandmates. Whatever: The opening lines of "God of Wine" will speak to anyone who's been in a bad fight with someone they love.
I know, they're from the '90s. But go to a Third Eye Blind show and half the people are in their twenties and they sing along with every song. I don't know why. It's weird. This is "Motorcycle Drive-By" and it's a masterpiece.
Did you know the doo-doo-doo song is about crystal meth and oral sex? Listen again. One thing I love about Jenkins' lyrics is that his lyrical flow is more like Del the Funky Homosapien's than anyone other artists.
Am I overselling this now? OK.
OK, you say, but all these songs are old. No! Third Eye Blind is still doin' it. Here's a newer one.
Here is a cloying, opportunistic, achingly terrible song that people think was recorded by Third Eye Blind. It was not.
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A fresh look at a band that won some long-overdue respect for its Republican National Convention troll
People hate Third Eye Blind because their first big song had "doo doo doo" in the hook, or because they blame them for songs actually recorded by other artists.
But they was doing great things long before they hilariously trolled the Republican National Convention. Here are seven songs that might make you recognize the subversive genius of Third Eye Blind.
