Beanie Sigel Gets Two Years for Tax Evasion

It’s a rising epidemic that is claiming the careers of rappers, actors and even reality television winners.  No, it’s not alcoholism, AIDS or even abusing bath salts… it’s tax evasion.  Denial is usually the first reaction to these accusations, blaming others is often the next stage (although, I must admit, that there are times when the rich and famous are taken advantage of by their handlers) and, finally, when the IRS presents the hard facts, jail time (and public humiliation) is usually the only solution.

Unfortunately, Beanie Sigel is learning the same hard lesson that Wesley Snipes and Richard Hatch endured – if you don’t pay your taxes, someone is going to notice eventually.

Sigel apparently failed to file federal income tax returned from 1999 to 2005 which allowed him to avoid giving the IRS a whopping $728,536.  The former associate of Jay-Z was charged with tax evasion back in August of 2011 and, this week, pleaded guilty to the charges, saying he was willing to take “total responsibility” for the crime but also said that, while he was in prison on drug and weapons charges in 2004 and 2005, unnamed family members had mishandled his finances.  That may be true but it doesn’t account for the lack of tax returns from 1999 to 2003.

He has been sentenced to two years in prison and, in addition to his incarceration, he will have to pay those back taxes along with penalties and interest owed to the IRS (which might be tough since, in court, he lamented: "I haven't been able to get my career back on track since").  He has until September 12, 2012 to turn himself in to the authorities to begin his sentence.