Now that’s scary! He blamed the decision on not filing on being young and misguided......tvsmacktalk.
It all went down in a Newark, New Jersey courtroom today. Before being sentenced Ja-Rule, or Jeffery Atkins (hee hee, Jeffery!!) made a plea to the judge
“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.”
“Things fell on hard times for me (and) kind of spun out of control,”
He is being sentenced for not paying on the $3 million dollars he made in 2004, 2005 and 2006. That’s really not that much money if you think about. That’s earning of a little more than 1 million per year.
He will be concurrently doing time for a criminal weapon possession charge. That’s more like it! I’m not condoning it, but at least you get some street cred. So basically he has a state offense and a federal offense, which he will be at Oneida Correctional Facility in upstate New York.
And to top it all off, he will have to pay 1.1 million in unpaid taxes anyway!
His Lawyer pleaded his case, Stacey Richman explained to the judge,
“He came from nowhere to achieve things beyond his wildest dreams. He took the neighborhood on his back and tried to support everyone.”
She explained how he did shows for the troops, didn’t have a high school education and still tried to give back.
During 2004, 2005 and 2006, the years covered by the plea, Atkins had a gross income of $3.35 million from ASJA Inc., which received royalties on his music, and Rule Tours Inc., which ran his tours and live performances.
He made another $1.3 million during 2007 and 2008, but never filed a return during those years.
At the end, it was sad. Ja-Rule was taken away, ankles and hands cuffed as his wife for the second time watched in the courtroom. It’s crazy to put your family through that.
The head investigator commented with what I thought was complete bull,
“The privilege of living well in the United States carries certain responsibilities, including the filing of tax returns when required and paying the correct amount of tax,”
