Rapper Beanie Sigel pleads guilty to tax evasion

The rap performer Beanie Sigel pleaded guilty Tuesday to failing to file income taxes for three years and will be sentenced in November.

Sigel, 37, who has had other run-ins with law enforcement, appeared in U.S. District Court to admit that from 2003 through 2005 he did not pay what the government says was at least $348,000 in taxes on $1 million of income.

He said little during the hearing before U.S. District Judge Jan E. Dubois. His attorney, Fortunato N. Perri Jr., said he would contest the government's calculation of taxes owed when Sigel appears for sentencing.

Sigel faces up to three years in prison. His guilty plea was expected, as he had waived indictment.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Gray said the government believed Sigel also failed to pay taxes in years before 2003 but that he could not be charged because the statute of limitations had expired. How much Sigel owes will be a factor in determining his sentence.

Gray said the IRS might contend that the total in taxes Sigel owes, dating back to the 1990s, was around $700,000. Perri said "we're confident" Dubois would conclude that the accurate number is "less than $300,000."

Sigel served 10 months in prison in 2005 for illegal gun possession, and in 2008 he was sentenced to serve one day in jail and six months in a halfway house for violating his probation on that charge.

He also previously beat an attempted-murder charge stemming from a shooting in West Philadelphia.

The Philadelphia native, born Dwight Grant, lives in the city. His most recent album, The Broad Street Bully, was released in 2009.

Last month, he performed with his former rap group, State Property, in Atlantic City and told MTV News that he was working on a script for a film called State Property 3. The first State Property movie was about the Philadelphia drug trade.

Contact staff writer Nathan Gorenstein at 215-854-2797 or ngorenstein@phillynews.com.

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