Rapper DMX sentenced to one year in prison for tax fraud

[March 29, 2018]    By Brendan Pierson

(Reuters) - Rap artist and actor DMX was sentenced to one year in prison on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty in a federal case accusing him of dodging $1.7 million in taxes.

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

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

Nonetheless, the judge said, "It cannot go unpunished."

Before being sentenced, Simmons said he was sorry for having failed to pay taxes. His lawyer also played part of Simmons' 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.

His lawyers had argued in court filings that a difficult upbringing left Simmons unprepared to deal with the responsibility that came with financial success.

Prosecutors said he 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, 47, was arrested in July. He has been in jail since January, when Rakoff revoked his bail after he failed a drug test and traveled to St. Louis without a court-mandated drug counselor.

Prosecutors said Simmons avoided taxes for years by living a cash-only lifestyle, depositing royalty checks in various bank accounts belonging to other people. When he pleaded guilty, Simmons said that those accounts were held by multiple managers, his ex-wife and one of his children's mothers.

Simmons has 15 children by multiple women.

Before the tax charges, Simmons had an arrest record including charges of animal cruelty, reckless driving, drug possession, weapons possession and probation violations. He has had several felony convictions and served prison time in Arizona.

Along with his rap career, Simmons has starred in such films as the 1998 crime drama "Belly," the 2000 action movie "Romeo Must Die" and the 2003 heist film "Cradle 2 The Grave."

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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