Oh No!
Rapper and Singer, Lauren Hill entered a guilty plea in Miami court last week on her tax evasion charges. Last month, Hill was charged with failure to pay her taxes in 2005, 2006, and 2007, and now Hill could face up to three years in prison for her actions.
There are many people in society who fail to file their taxes on time who only face civil liability, Lauryn’s attorney Nathan Hockman said in a statement. He continued with, They chose Ms. Hill in particular because of who she was.
As you may recall, Hill penned a public letter to her fans where she expressed her hiatus from the hip-hop industry and the “evil-pressures” of the music businesss which ultimately caused her to support herself and family independently, and therefore having to use most of her earnings to sustain her livelihood.
Unfortunately the government ain’t having it an they want Hill to pay!
TMZ reports:
Hill pled guilty today to three counts of failure to file tax returns for the years 2005, 2006, and 2007 — when she earned more than $1.8 million.
When the judge asked if Hill “intentionally and willingly” failed to file the returns, she replied, “Yes.”
In addition to the 3 years behind bars, Hill could be smacked with $75,000 in fines.
Hill was released on $150,000 bail. Her sentencing hearing is set for November.
The news comes of surprise to many, and Pras [friend/former Fugees members] recently spoke out about the allegations and his take on the overall situation.
Pras tells GlobalGrind.com:
I’m bugging! I can’t believe it! I’m sitting here on a plane to L.A. listening to Phil Collins and Philip Bailey “Easy Lover” on my iPod. But I don’t believe she’ll go to jail, but damn bail is 150K?! Zimmerman was about the same. Go figure! … This is crazy!!
Talk about bad timing. Just as Ms. Hill was resurfacing back to the music-verse, she finds herself battling yet another obstacle. It is alleged that Ms. Hill was advised to undergo mental health counseling at the court’s pre-trials intervention services.
We really hope all is ends well with Ms. Hill and hopefully she can return to the music industry once and for all.