The good news for rapper Ja Rule today?
He is officially out of an Upstate New York prison after serving most of his
two-year sentence for gun possession.
The bad news? He headed straight into
federal custody in a tax case.
U.S. Marshals escorted the 36-year-old
out of Mid-State Correctional Facility this morning. He is now being held
at the Oneida County Jail in central New York.
The rapper, who had been in protective
custody because of his celebrity, has some time left on a 28-month sentence for
tax evasion that ran concurrently.
Ja Rule, whose real name is Jeffrey
Atkins, may have less than six months left and may be eligible for a halfway
house, defense attorney Stacey Richman said.
Back taxes are one of the main reasons
he wants to get back to work, too.
"People are looking forward to
experiencing his talent again," she said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Mack said
it is being determined where Ja Rule will serve the rest of his time, and how
much of the $1.1 million he owes the IRS has been paid.
Once out of custody, he also faces a
year of supervised release.
Ja Rule went to
prison in Marcy, N.Y., in June 2011, and got out at his earliest
possible release date, state correction spokeswoman Linda Foglia said.
He was written up twice for unauthorized
phone calls in 2012 but had work assignments on lawn and grounds crews and
participated in education programs.
In the gun case, New York City police
said they found a loaded .40-caliber semi-automatic gun in a rear door of Ja
Rule's $250,000 luxury car in 2010.
In March 2011 he admitted in federal
court that he failed to pay taxes on more than $3 million he earned from
2004-2006 while he lived in Saddle River, N.J.
"I in no way attempted to deceive
the government or do anything illegal," he said.
"I was a young man who made a lot
of money ... I didn't know how to deal with these finances, and I didn't have
people to guide me, so I made mistakes."
Richman said Ja Rule is looking forward
to his daughter's graduation.
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