Rapper Ja Rule jailed for 28 months for failing to pay over $1m in back taxes!

Rapper Ja Rule was sentenced yesterday to 28 months in prison for failing to pay over $1m in back taxes.

The 35-year-old performer, whose real name is Jeffrey Atkins, was already serving a two-year sentence in a New York for attempted criminal weapon possession.

Before a packed courtroom dressed in his yellow prison jumpsuit, Atkins declared that he had 'in no way attempted to deceive the government.'

Atkins claimed that his youth and lack of proper financial guidance were the reasons for his failure to file tax returns between 2004 and 2008, over which period he earned a gross income of $4.38m.

Atkins told U.S. Magistrate Judge Patty Shwartz: 'I'm getting a little choked up -- I didn't know how to deal with these finances, and I didn't have people to guide me, so I made mistakes.'

'Things fell on hard times for me (and) kind of spun out of control.'

Ms Shwartz acknowledged during sentencing that Atkins was a talented and successful man, 'blessed with creativity,' noting his performances for US troops in Afghanistan, and commending him for his commitment to make amends.