Ja Rule in Jail, Rapper to Be Released July 28
Rapper Ja Rule is now in federal custody after failing to pay his taxes for two years. He was just released from New York state prison on a separate gun charge, but was immediately taken into federal custody to begin serving a new jail sentence.
Ja Rule is expected to be released on July 28, and until then he will live at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center. He admitted to not paying taxes between 2004 and 2006, but in court agreed to pay back more than $1 million owed to the government.
"I in no way attempted to deceive the government or do anything illegal," Rule told the judge. "I was a young man who made a lot of money – I'm getting a little choked up – I didn't know how to deal with these finances, and I didn't have people to guide me, so I made mistakes."
"Each of us must pay our fair share to keep this country going," U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said in a statement during the case.
He faced up to three years in prison- one year for each count of tax evasion- but was given a lenient sentence. Given that Ja Rule was already serving time for a weapons possession, it was clear that he was not going anywhere anytime soon.
The judge allowed him to serve his tax evasion sentence concurrently, meaning that the time he spent in prison for the weapons charge would also count for his tax evasion charge.
He served nearly all of his 2-year sentence at a prison in upstate New York and was released on Thursday morning into the custody of U.S. Marshalls, who then took him to the Brooklyn Detention Center.
"Many people are looking forward to experiencing his talent again," the rapper's attorney, Stacey Richman, told the Associated Press.
Ja Rule is a Grammy-nominated emcee who has also appeared in movies, including "The Fast and the Furious" and "Scary Movie 3."
