Lauryn Hill Pleads Guilty to Tax Evasion

Singer Lauryn Hill is facing jail time after pleading guilty to tax evasion charges in a New Jersey Court on Friday. The former Fugee could owe up to $75,000 in fines and three years behind bars for failing to file between 2005 and 2007.

Hill acknowledged that she “intentionally and willingly” did not file on more than $1.5 million in earnings, reports TMZ. She was later released on $150,000 bail and will return to Newark for sentencing in November.

Earlier this month, the mother of six opened up on her Tumblrpage about her tax problems and going “underground” as a way to protect her friends and family. 

“For the past several years, I have remained what others would consider underground,” she wrote. Adding that she wanted out of the “mainstream.”

“I kept my life relatively simple, even after huge successes, but it became increasingly obvious that certain indulgences and privileges were expected to come at the expense of my free soul, free mind, and therefore my health and integrity.  So I left a more mainstream and public life, in order to wean both myself, and my family, away from a lifestyle that required distortion and compromise as a means for maintaining it.”

And, when it came to the taxes owed, the 37-year-old said, "My intention has always been to get this situation rectified. When I was working consistently without being affected by the interferences mentioned above, I filed and paid my taxes. This only stopped when it was necessary to withdraw from society, in order to guarantee the safety and well-being of myself and my family."