DMX to spend year in jail for tax fraud

RAP artist and actor DMX was sentenced to one year in prison this week after he pleaded guilty in a federal case accusing him of dodging $1.7 million (R20.12m) in taxes.

DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was sentenced by US District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan, New York. He pleaded guilty to one count of tax fraud in November.

Judge Rakoff said he believed Simmons, 47, was “a good man” and the sentence should be modest, explaining why he gave less than the five years sought by prosecutors.

Before being sentenced, Simmons said he was sorry for having failed to pay taxes. His lawyer also played part of his 1998 song Slippin in the courtroom, describing difficulties he has faced. “They put me in a situation forcing me to be a man/ When I was just learning to stand without a helping hand,” Simmons raps in the song.

Prosecutors said Simmons avoided taxes between 2000 to 2005 by shifting money among accounts belonging to managers and associates, hiding millions of dollars he earned from hit songs, including X Gon’ Give it to Ya and Where the Hood At.

Simmons was arrested in July. He has been in jail since January, when Rakoff revoked his bail after he failed a drug test and travelled to St. Louis without a court-mandated drug counsellor.

Before the tax charges, Simmons had an arrest record including charges of animal cruelty, reckless driving, drug possession, weapons possession and probation violations. – Reuters