R&B singer Lauryn Hill has been sentenced to 3 months in prison for failing to pay nearly $1 million in federal and state taxes, The Associated Press reports.
She dodged a bullet on this one.
Hill was facing up to three years in prison for three misdemeanor counts of federal tax evasion. Up until Sunday, she had yet to come up with the cash to cover her bill.
But the singer finally made good on her debt in the eleventh hour, paying back more than $900,000 in taxes owed.
It's likely because of that payment that the judge lessened Hill's sentence.
In late April, a New Jersey Magistrate Judge lectured the Fugees front woman when she failed to meet another deadline to pay the debt. The judge gave her a few extra weeks to come up with the cash, and her attorney promised Hill was making new music and expecting real estate income soon.
“This is not someone who stands before the court penniless,” U.S. Magistrate Judge Madeline Cox Arleo said at the hearing. "This is a criminal matter. Actions speak louder than words, and there has been no effort here to pay these taxes."
That all changed Sunday.
"Ms. Hill has not only now fully paid, prior to sentencing, her taxes, which are part of her criminal restitution, but she has additionally fully paid her federal and state personal taxes for the entire period under examination through 2009," her attorney, Nathan Hochman, told Reuters.
In a Tumblr post Friday, Hill shared a link to her first new song in years, "Neurotic Society." From the sound of the note she wrote, Hill was pressured to release the song in light of her pending sentencing.
"Here is a link to a piece that I was ‘required' to release immediately, by virtue of the impending legal deadline," she wrote. "I love being able to reach people directly, but in an ideal scenario, I would not have to rush the release of new music… but the message is still there."
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