Lou Pearlman, the now jailed, corpulent hustler behind *NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, has cut a deal with federal prosecutors and confirms to Radar exclusively his role in one of the largest, longest running Ponzi schemes in U.S. history.

Writing in the third-person style he's frequently adopted for his homespun press releases about his various blimp, plane, and pop operations over the years, Pearlman tells us, "As chairman of Trans Continental Airlines Inc. and Trans Continental Airlines Travel Services Inc., the only two Pearlman companies involved, Pearlman takes on full responsibility for questionable corporate activities that had occurred."

[UPDATE: Check a stunning five-minute video featuring Lou's $250k Rolex, his jet, limo, boomin' system, and largess here]

Those activities involve borrowing from banks as much as $160 million against nonexistent collateral and bilking at least 1,300 people (the elderly, Pearlman friends, associates, and relatives) out of at least $200 million. Originally facing bank and wire fraud charges that carried a maximum prison sentence of up to 130 years, Pearlman, 53, is now looking at a reduced max of 25 years but expanded bank fraud charges and new conspiracy to defraud investors, money laundering, and bankruptcy fraud charges. He's previously been accused of bilking as many as 1,800 investors and banks out of $500 million. Though there are still plenty of unanswered questions about Pearlman's scam, new court documents (hat tip to Helen Huntley) detail his sale of fake stocks and a fake savings plan in which investors' money often went to fund his ever-expanding empire, pay old debts, or to support his fat-cat lifestyle.

"Pearlman will help to fully restore victims up to 200 million dollars," Lou tells Radar. Surely he's alluding to his willingness to cooperate with investigators since he's made every effort in his case to cry poor and has whiled away months in jail since his June 27, 2006, arrest in Bali, Indonesia. A court-appointed defender has handled his case. He's contradicted claims that he squirreled away several hundred million or passed it to friends and former associates while watching his personal possessions get auctioned off in massive public events, then on eBay. His lakeside Orlando mansion, bought for $4.25 million in 1999, goes on the block March 8. Many believe he just spent all the missing money.

The new documents cite "co-conspirators known and unknown to the United States Attorney," and Pearlman tells Radar, "Others will be charged as part for a conspiracy scheme." (Lou, apparently, is not a subscriber to the "stop snitchin'" code.) Although most of his ventures were formed under and funded by Trans Continental Airlines and Trans Continental Travel Service (themselves largely bogus corporations), he insists those are the only two companies wrapped up in the fraud. *NSYNC, he says specifically, is clean and clear. Good news to Justin Timberlake, to be sure.

The details of how Pearlman ran his Ponzi scheme from his extravagant, city block-size Orlando offices, the story of how it was unraveled, and Pearlman's only jailhouse interview to date were first published in Radar's October feature, "The Fat Man Sings."

This time, he tells Radar in his statement, "Pearlman is looking fwd to resolving this matter as soon as possible."

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