Embattled rapper DMX was sentenced Wednesday to one year in prison for tax fraud — but insisted he wasn’t “like a criminal in a comic book” trying to scheme against the government.
DMX, real name Earl Simmons, admitted in November to evading $1.7 million in taxes.
He was also given three years of supervised release.
The 47-year-old performer, whose top songs include “Party Up (Up in Here),” stood accused of hiding money from the IRS from 2010 to 2016 — largely by maintaining a “cash lifestyle.”
“I knew that taxes needed to be paid,” Simmons said shortly before Manhattan Federal Judge Jed Rakoff handed down his sentence.
“I hired people but I didn’t follow up. I guess I really didn’t put too much concern into it.
“I never went to the level of tax evasion where I’d sit down and plot . . . like a criminal in a comic book,” said Simmons, who grew teary at points during the proceeding.
Prosecutors had pushed for Rakoff to hit Simmons with a sentence ranging from four years and nine months up to five years in prison.
In their sentencing papers, prosecutors urged Rakoff to “use this sentencing to send the message to this defendant and others that star power does not entitle someone to a free pass, and individuals cannot shirk the duty to pay their fair share of…
