Lauryn Hill is going to have a tough time proving this one. After already pleading guilty to tax evasion last year, the enigmatic singer has filed paperwork that says she didn’t pay Uncle Sam because she felt “threatened.”
Reports TMZ:
Lauryn just filed legal docs asking for mercy before her sentencing later this month, claiming there was a good reason she failed to file tax returns for 2005, ’06 and ’07 … when she earned a total of more than $1.8 million. She already pled guilty and faces several years in prison.
According to docs … Lauryn 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.”
She’s not specific about the threats — but it’s a new explanation for her mysterious disappearance from the music scene after her rise to fame in the ’90s.
Lauryn previously claimed she went underground to get back in touch with her musical roots.
Lauryn’s asking the court to consider a bunch of other factors before her sentencing — including her claim that she can pay off the debt much faster if she’s not behind bars.
Hill’s previous explanation to her tax struggle included a Tumblr rant where she claimed that she removed herself from society in order to keep her family “safe, healthy, and free from danger.”
So it seems like L Boogie is basically saying her fame resulted in an inability to write a check to the United States Treasury. For the sake of her children—she has six—good luck with that.
Lauryn Hill will be sentenced on April 22 and hopes to receive probation instead of any jail time.
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Photo: Getty
