Lauryn Hill To Be Sentenced Today on Tax Evasion Charges

Singer Lauryn Hill is scheduled to appear before a U.S. District Court Judge Monday to be sentenced for failure to file income taxes, according to officials in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Last week, a published report said Hill, a South Orange resident, asked the judge to show some mercy and not send her to jail after she pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges late last June. Hill claimed the reason she didn’t pay her taxes was because she was receiving threats, the report said.

Hill pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to file tax returns with the IRS for three calendar years – 2005, 2006 and 2007. Her income during those years totaled more than $1.8 million, according to documents filed in the case and court statements. 

An April 15 published report on Entertainmentwise.com quoting TMZ.com said Hill has spent the last few months pleading for mercy from the judge while explaining her reasons for not paying taxes.

Court documents say Hill, 37, 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,” the report said. Hill did not reveal the exact nature of the threats, the report said.

Hill, who is best known for her work with Wyclef Jean in the group The Fugees, and for her solo recording, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” waived her right to a trial, the report said.

Patch will update this story.