US District Court Judge Jed Rakoff has long been a vocal advocate against mass incarceration and other problems he seeing is the operation of the federal criminal justice system. But that view did not preclude him from thinking he needed to send a notable white-collar criminal to federal prison yesterday as reported in this local article (which provides a nice short review of the parties' sentencing arguments):
Embattled rapper DMX was sentenced Wednesday to one year in prison for tax fraud — but insisted he wasn’t “like a criminal in a comic book” trying to scheme against the government. DMX, real name Earl Simmons, admitted in November to evading $1.7 million in taxes. He was also given three years of supervised release.
The 47-year-old performer, whose top songs include “Party Up (Up in Here),” stood accused of hiding money from the IRS from 2010 to 2016 — largely by maintaining a “cash lifestyle.” “I knew that taxes needed to be paid,” Simmons said shortly before Manhattan Federal Judge Jed Rakoff handed down his sentence. “I hired people but I didn’t follow up. I guess I really didn’t put too much concern into it.
“I never went to the level of tax evasion where I’d sit down and plot . . . like a criminal in a comic book,” said Simmons, who grew teary at points during the proceeding.
Prosecutors had pushed for Rakoff to hit Simmons with a sentence ranging from four years and nine months up to five years in prison. In their sentencing papers, prosecutors urged Rakoff to "use this sentencing to send the message to this defendant and others that star power does not entitle someone to a free pass, and individuals cannot shirk the duty to pay their fair share of taxes."
Simmons' lawyers, Murray and Stacey Richman, asked Rakoff for a sentence of in-patient rehab. With treatment — and strict supervision — Simmons could keep performing, allowing him to repay his whopping tax debt, they insisted. They also floated the idea Rakoff could appoint a trustee who would oversee Simmons' business dealings — making sure the tax man got paid. They maintained that Simmons' traumatic and impoverished upbringing led him astray as an adult, including toward addiction and bad financial decisions — but that he has a talent to "make beauty out of ugliness."
The Richmans played the music video for Simmons' 1998 song "Slippin'", claiming lyrics such as "If I'm strong enough I'll live long enough to see my kids/Doing something more constructive with their time than bids" indicate his search for redemption through art. "He is the American dream, and sometimes the American dream takes you to court," Stacey Richman said. "He has been able to raise himself from the ghetto."
Rakoff sympathized with Simmons, saying he was another example of how "the sins of the parents are visited upon their children" — but felt prison was necessary to deter would-be tax fraudsters....
Other performers have done time for tax raps.
Former Fugees singer Lauryn Hill got a three-month sentence in federal lockup for not paying taxes on $1.5 million in income from 2005 to 2007.
Fat Joe, whose legal name is Joseph Antonio Cartagena, got four months in federal prison after he didn't file tax returns on more than $3 million in income.
Ja Rule, who is legally named Jeffrey Atkins, received a 28-month sentence for not filing tax returns that ran concurrently with a two-year weapons sentence, according to reports.
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