And are explicitly barred from making a reality show about it
Richard and Mayumi Heene, the parents behind the balloon boy hoax last October, were sentenced to jail terms on Wednesday and forbidden from making any money off their stunt for the next four years. Richard was slapped with a 90-day jail sentence, including 60 days of work release, while Mayumi was sentenced to 20 days behind bars. Prosecutor Andrew Lewis claims the hoax was motivated by the Heenes’s desperation to get their own reality TV show and the financial hole they’d dug for themselves in pursuit of it. Richard Heene’s attorney pleaded for leniency, telling the court the couple has “learned a lesson they will never forget for the rest of their lives.”