Lou Pearlman the boy band mogul who launched the hit groups Backstreet Boys and 'NSync;  was later sent to prison for a $300 million Ponzi and bank fraud scheme.  The Federal Bureau of Prisons wrote on its website that Pearlman died on Friday at 62-years-old. A cause of death was not listed in federal records, but according to transcripts, at the time of sentencing when Pearlman was 53 years old, his attorney argued that he had "some significant health conditions."

Pearlman pleaded guilty under a plea agreement to federal charges of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, money laundering and presenting or using a false claim in a bankruptcy proceeding.

In 2008, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, after swindling investors and banks in a scheme that went on for two decades.  At least $200 million of the more than $300 million wrapped up in the scam was from investors, according to court records.

Pearlman convinced the individual investors and banks to invest millions of dollars in two phony companies purported to be in the airline business - Transcontinental Airlines Travel Services Inc. and Transcontinental Airlines - going back to the 1980s.  According to court records, the companies "existed only on paper."  Pearlman won investors' confidence with fake financial statements created by a fictitious accounting firm.

Victims who lost millions oand hundreds of thousands of dollars in the scam told the court at sentencing how Pearlman ruined their lives.  One woman said she lost half her retirement savings and was living on Social Security.  A widow described how her 87-year-old husband broke down in tears after learning they'd been scammed, according to court transcripts.

With Pearlman's death, some of the musicians he once managed, expressed mixed feelings on Saturday night.

"He might not have been a stand-up businessman, but I wouldn't be doing what I love today [without] his influence," former 'NSync member Lance Bass said on Twitter.

Chris Kirkpatrick, founding member of the hit group, said he was feeling "mixed emotions right now."

Source: nbcnews.com