[introImage id=135295 caption=”Source: NY Times”]
Nearly four months ago, DMX plead guilty to tax evasion after failing to pay $1.7 million in taxes accrued from 2002 to 2005. He accrued this staggering figure through insisting on cash payments and having royalty payments diverted to financial surrogates, thereby hiding his real income from the IRS. To make matters worse, DMX continued to avoid tax payments once the IRS started trying to collect on his liabilities, and failed to file tax returns from 2010 to 2015.
In the most recent development in his legal battle, X’s attorney, Murray Richman, wants to play a few of DMX’s songs for the judge presiding over the case in an attempt to help the presiding judge “understand [DMX] genuinely in his voice.” It is reported that Richman has sent the lyrics of X’s tracks “Slippin” and “The Convo”.
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“It is raw Earl,” says Richman. “We are not here or desirous of molding him into what some may want to see; Earl is uniquely him and that is both his beauty of mind and his genius.”
DMX has been incarcerated since January after his bail was revoked for failing to comply with bail conditions. X had been on house arrest for a period of time after posting $500,000 bail, but managed to opt into a drug rehabilitation program that would allow him to do shows under special conditions while undergoing treatment. After a few shows, DMX started breaking rules in the agreement, most notably for failing to report travel plans and failing drug tests.
Originally facing up to 44 years in prison on 14 counts of tax evasion, X’s plea deal reduced his maximum sentence to just five years. DMX’s attorney is still pushing for a better deal, in which he suggested including an up to 60-day study of his client by “qualified consultants” rather than time in prison. This, he argues, would allow DMX to do shows to earn money to pay back his $1.7 million in taxes and support his 15 children.
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[introImage id=142212 caption=”Credit: hurricanehank/Shutterstock”]
Prosecutors are still pushing for the maximum five-year sentence for DMX, arguing to the judge that it would “send the message to this defendant and others that star power does not entitle someone to a free pass.” They argued that DMX was trying to shift the blame of his tax evasion off onto his managers and attorneys.
According to Richman, X has appreciated his time at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan and says that he is now “sober and invigorated”. We hope for the best in DMX’s upcoming trial. You can read more about earlier details in this case here and here.
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