Ja Rule Sentenced to Jail For Failing to Pay Taxes

Ja Rule is back in the limelight, but surely not in the way he wanted to be. On Monday, July 18, the rapper was sentenced to two years in a federal prison for failing to pay taxes on money he earned between 2004 and 2006. Both Ja Rule and his attorney, Stacy Richman, blamed his lacking “business prowess” on irrresponsible upbringing and asked for leniency.

Before his sentencing, Ja Rule said to the judge, Magistrate Patty Schwartz, "I in no way attempted to deceive the government or do anything illegal. 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."

"My business is very out of sight, out of mind," he said. "The longer I'm away, the longer it'll take me to get back to doing what I need to do to actually pay these taxes."

The plea, however, fell on deaf ears as Schwartz handed down the sentence in a Newark, NJ court. “Taxpayers do not have the luxury of deciding whether to comply with law,” she said in response to the rapper's request.

Seems like bad luck is the norm for Ja Rule right now. Last month, he was sentenced to up to two years in prison for a criminal weapons charge dating back to 2007; he was caught with a semiautomatic gun in the back of his Maybach after cops pulled him over for speeding.

Luckily, the judge will allow Ja Rule to serve his sentences concurrently at Oneida Correctional Facility, where he is currently incarcerated.

Ja Rule, real name Jeffrey Atkins, became popular in the late 90s and early millennium for his poppy rap ballads, usually partnered with pop singers. His career took an unexpected downturn after a very public rap feud with rapper 50 Cent, who ousted him as the pied piper of rap. Since then, he has struggled to return to the level of fame he once had, even mimicking himself in the 2009 film, Just Another Day, about two rappers at the end of their careers.

Ja Rule is married to his high school sweetheart. The two have three children.

He has been ordered to pay 1.1 million dollars in unpaid taxes.