NEWARK: A US judge sentenced Grammy-winning hip hop artist Lauryn Hill to three months in prison, three months in home confinement and a $60,000 fine on Monday for federal tax evasion.
Hill had pleaded guilty last year to three counts of failing to file tax returns on more than $1.8 million between 2005 and 2007 and could have been sentenced to three years in prison.
On the eve of her scheduled sentencing, Hill paid at least $504,000 in federal back taxes plus state taxes and penalties, her attorney said on Sunday.
In April, a US magistrate judge admonished Hill for failing to make promised payments on her unpaid taxes ahead of her sentencing.
She had expected to raise the money from a new recording contract last fall but only paid $50,000 when she did not complete the expected tracks, her attorney said.
A new single by Hill, her first in several years, called "Neurotic Society," was posted on iTunes on Friday.
"Here is a link to a piece that I was 'required' to release immediately, by virtue of the impending legal deadline," her Tumblr page said on Saturday.
Hill's 1998 solo album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" won the singer, a former member of the Fugees, five Grammy awards.
Hill is from South Orange, New Jersey. She was sentenced at US District Court in Newark, New Jersey.
<Center><b><i>Copyright Reuters, 2013</b></i><br></center>
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