Boy-band mogul Lou Pearlman was sentenced this morning to 25 years in federal prison for running a lengthy, systematic con that artificially inflated his net worth and cheated people out of $300 million.

During Pearlman's sentencing in U.S. District Court this morning, Senior U.S. District Judge G. Kendall Sharp offered Pearlman an incentive to pay back his investors: For every $1 million he puts back in investors' pockets, he gets one month off of his sentence.

Since Pearlman's sentence is for 300 months, he can avoid prison altogether if he forks up the cash.

"I'm most concerned for the investors, even more so than the institutions," Sharp said.

[OS]