Rapper DMX Sentenced To A Year In Prison For Tax Fraud - Songs Played In Court As Defense
This week, Earl Simmons, A.K.A DMX, was sentenced to a year in prison for tax fraud, a charge that he plead guilty to in November.
U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim, who is working the case, said in a statement that, “For years, Earl Simmons, the recording artist and performer known as DMX, made millions from his chart-topping songs, concert performances and television shows. But while raking in millions from his songs, including his 2003 hit ‘X Gon’ Give it to Ya,’ DMX didn’t give any of it to the IRS. Far from it, DMX allegedly went out of his way to evade taxes, including by avoiding personal bank accounts, setting up accounts in other’s names and paying personal expenses largely in cash. He even allegedly refused to tape the television show ‘Celebrity Couples Therapy’ until a properly issued check he was issued was reissued without withholding any taxes. Celebrity rapper or not, all Americans must pay their taxes, and together with our partners at the IRS, we will pursue those who deliberately and criminally evade this basic obligation of citizenship.”
However, DMX is long past the prime in his career, and most of the income in question was earned many years ago.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff handed down the sentence in a court room in Manhattan, and decided to sentence him to a year in prison, instead of the recommended five.
Lawyers argued in court that a traumatic upbringing left DMX unable to handle the many temptations that come along with fame. They even played some of his most emotional songs for the judge, including the early hit "Slippin."
Below, his lawyer explains why his songs were played in court.
Rakoff called DMX “a good man” but said that this type of offense “cannot go unpunished.”
Some people would point out that DMX had plenty of money, and that he could have easily handed over his extortion fee and still be able to eat. However, if a wealthy man was walking down the street and was attacked by a mugger, would people still carry that same perception? Would everyone condemn this person for attempting to stand up against his mugger? Because DMX, and every other person who is forced to fill out a tax form, is by principle a victim of theft.
Thanks to a lifetime of propaganda, people will argue relentlessly that taxation is not an act of violence, they will deny that it perpetuates a complicated form of slavery, and many times get deeply offended when you point out the fact that it is theft.
Yet, peaceful people are taken against their will and thrown in cages every day for not paying taxes. If this action was not carried by the state, everyone would recognize it as a violent kidnapping. Whats worse is the fact that if any of these people made any attempts to defend themselves on their own property as they would against any other intruder, they would have been killed and treated as if they were the aggressor.
Wesley Snipes, Lauryn Hill and many other celebrities have done significant time in prison over tax charges.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:
My name is John Vibes and I am an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. I write for numerous alternative media websites, including The Free Thought Project @tftproject and The Mind Unleashed. In addition to my first book, Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance, I have also co-authored three books with Derrick Broze @dbroze : The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality, Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion and Manifesto of the Free Humans
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This kind of stuff angers the hell out of me.
The state does absolutely nothing to help the single individual. Besides forcibly take money out of our pockets... for everything you could think of.
Taxes on everything! When did everyone get so brainwashed!
Im with you on this one, taxation is a theft of the public yet they too content with their lattes and xbox's to even notice.
So without the government how does a recording artist prevent people from pirating their intellectual property?
Very good question. The world would certainly be a different place without govt, very tough to speculate on. But I try to remain positive about a world without big brother everywhere.
Civil court? Forced payments.. a world without government..
the trend seems towards ever more of a panopticon
Never heard of that term, looked it up. Interesting. So do you mean enforced by the artists in a world without government? And that people will simply obey the law most of the time since they don't know when they will be pinged for illegally taking content.
Or did you mean government doing the surveillance as they already do x10000
seems like the lines are blurred between government and corporations and they both know everything about everyone
Ah... yes. I see what you mean now.
How would we grow cotton without slaves?
Kickstarter has shown how artists can get paid before recording. Concerts can be a huge draw. Free music downloads build hype for both. Recordings have better quality than MP3s, and can include special bonus gimmicks.
The recording industry as we know it is hardly proof that it's the only way.
so copyrights don't benefit artists? patents don't benefit inventors?
Patents and copyrights benefit some at the expense of others, because intellectual property laws necessarily mean violating the real property rights of others. And the biggest beneficiaries of these laws are not the artists or designers.
Chexk out the work of Stephan Kinsella in Against Intellectual Property for a detailed analysis of the subject.
intellectual property laws necessarily mean violating the real property rights of others?
By claiming ownership of an idea, you claim the right to harm them if they use their own property to implement the idea. But ideas can't be owned when they are in someone else's mind, and you do not have the right to threaten someone else for using their own property to turn ideas into something real.
if you improve an invention in any significant way then you can get a patent, something in someone's mind is useless if they are not activily persuing developing it. We have all seen something and said "I thought of that" but we didn't risk any of our capital or spend any of our time to pursue or develop it, or even bother to protect it. Thus it is not a right to harm anyone, it is a right to defend one's property.
X gone give it to ya. WTF DMX? This man knows not when to stop. But, at the same time, I support his tax evasion maneuvers. The question is - is it better to pay taxes with $$$ or do time?
yeah I personally always give them their loot to keep them off my back, but i gotta give some props to the people willing to disobey, but its not the choice id be making lol
Yeah, I'd rather pay. Not as hardcore as DMX here lol
Love DMX. Trying not to be mugged (what he did) was "wrong." The things we say to get the state to beat us less severely.
Maybe dancing would have been a more effective defence.
DMX has imposed many costs on society, more than most, the costs of roads and police to arrest him and the government using force to protect his intellectual property from thieves. Without the government using force on people then he couldn't make a dime as a recording artist, everything would be pirated.
LOL
Government imposed those costs, not DMX.
DMX profited from the imposition of those costs.
Irrelevant. And being robbed and kidnapped for something that is not fundamentally criminal is not a benefit.
So he should profit from the system but not pay back in?
Yes, because a broken system should be torn down, not propped up. Should slaves have refused food, shelter, and clothing from their owners in order to combat the injustice of slavery? Government is just a big plantation, and we are free-range tax cattle.
Yeah, that's pretty rude to actual slaves isn't it? when was the last time you were beaten or sold?
Slavery has manifested itself in many forms throughout history. The chattel slavery of the antebellum South is not the only one. We are objectively not free, and as evidence of that, I point to every mandate for government permission, including licenses, registrations, permits, and regulatory red tape to buy, sell, or even build on your own property. Every tax is a claim of superior ownership over your life by the government. As for beatings, look at every instance of police brutality in enforcing laws against non-crimes. And as for sales, we can't even buy our freedom from the government's plantation system.
That's harsh. When the government is in control, the people suffers
As long as you rape kill and eat babies then your alright ! It must be because that X thing on it's side is a cross and that is why he is being targeted ! it is simple , distraction works well for the masses !
A year for Tax fraud?? Wow
"You were successful. Give us a cut, or we'll hurt you. This isn't racketeering, because reasons."
Hi!!!🤝