S. Samuel
Grammy-winning singer Lauryn Hill just can't catch a break as new reports claim she is battling a legal war with her landlord over a missed rent payment for a New Jersey mansion.
Details of the messy situation sprouted online early Friday (April 19).
Grammy Award-winning R&B legend Lauryn Hill is being sued for eviction … the good news, she’s probably going to prison so she won’t need that place anyway. Lauryn’s been renting a South Orange, New Jersey mansion since 2009. Things went south when she stopped paying rent last month, so her landlord ran to court and filed a legal ultimatum — pay your rent NOW, or get out. Lauryn hasn’t paid, so the eviction lawsuit is now full steam ahead. Lauryn will be sentenced next week for tax fraud. She pled guilty and now faces several years in federal prison. Nothing like moving from a big house to the big house. (TMZ)
Earlier in the week, reports claimed Lauryn wants leniency in her tax evasion case.
After pleading guilty to tax evasion last June, multiple Grammy winner and former Fugee Lauryn Hill is making one last ditch effort to avoid jail time. In advance of her scheduled sentencing this Monday, April 22, Hill filed legal documents requesting that her sentence be limited to probation, as it would make it easier for her to pay back the bill she owes for the three years–2005, 2006, and 2007–she did not file taxes. Over those three years, Hill earned a reported $1.8 million, but the documents explain she did not pay the IRS because she “withdrew from society at large due to what she perceived as manipulation and very real threats to herself and her family.” (Entertainment Weekly)
Last summer, Hill’s estranged Fugees partner Wyclef Jean briefly addressed her legal woes.
“Actually, you know, I ain’t speak to Lauryn. It’s been a minute. I heard about the little drama she got in the news, wishing her better on that. You know? Actually, I was on the phone with Pras earlier. It’s all good. Nothing but love for the Fugees.” (Montreality)
Past reports suggested Hill could also be hit with $75,000 in fines in addition to having to pay off the $1.8 million tax debt.
Hill’s attorney Nathan Hockman said the star had been targeted by the federal government because of her celebrity status. “There are many people in society who fail to file their taxes on time who only face civil liability,” Hockman said. “They chose Ms. Hill in particular because of who she was.” Hill spoke little at her hearing today and stood attentively with her arms crossed in front of her chest when the judge first addressed her. She appeared in a white button-down shirt, blue blazer and long coral skirt. (Star-Ledger)
