Lauryn Hill asks judge for leniency in upcoming tax evasion sentencing (940 hits)
Lauryn Hill asks judge for leniency in upcoming tax evasion sentencing claiming she failed to file taxes due to threats and withdrawal from society
claiming she failed to file taxes due to threats and withdrawal from society
Threats to herself and her family prompted former Fugees singer Lauryn Hill to skip paying taxes for three years. Hill recently filed court documents seeking leniency in her upcoming sentencing for tax evasion claiming she skipped out on her taxes due to the perceived threats and because of her overall withdrawal from society. The 37-year-old former singer for the Fugees previously pleaded guilty for failing to file tax returns from 2005 to 2007, a period when she earned $1.8m.
Tax Evader: Former Fugees singer Lauryn Hill has filed legal documents seeking leniency in her upcoming sentencing for tax evasion, claiming her actions were part of her overall withdrawal from society. The Killing Me Softly singer stopped paying taxes 'when she withdrew from society at large due to what she perceived as manipulation and very real threats to herself and her family,' according to court documents obtained by TMZ.
Hill also has asked the court to consider other factors before her sentencing, including her contention that she can pay off her debt faster if she's not imprisoned.
Hill was charged in June 2012 for failing to file returns with the Internal Revenue Service and pleaded guilty. She faces a maximum one-year sentence on each of three counts of tax evasion, plus fines. In a lengthy post on her Tumblr page last June, Hill claimed she left mainstream society during the 2000s in protest over its 'climate of hostility, false entitlement, manipulation, racial prejudice, s*xism and ageism.' Hill said she also 'embraced my right to resist a system intentionally opposing my right to whole and integral survival.' Hill rose to fame as the lead singer of the Fugees.
Back together: Hill joined Wyclef Jean and Pras for a Fugees concert in London in 2005 She launched her solo career in 1998 with the critically acclaimed album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Hill largely disappeared from public view starting about 2000 and has been raising her six children. Five of her children are with Rohan Marley, the son of reggae legend Bob Marley. A judge was expected act on Hill's request for leniency on April 22.
