Credit: AP Image

From TMZ

Ja Rule is finally a free man … TMZ has learned, the rapper was released from prison today after serving out his sentences for attempted illegal gun possession and tax evasion.

Mr. Rule — real name Jeffrey Atkins – was released from Ray Brook Federal Prison in New York this morning. A source close to the rapper tells TMZ, his wife picked him up around 10AM and drove him straight home, where he’ll remain on home confinement until July 28th.

Read more at TMZ.com.

by R. Asmerom

There are certain scenarios that play over and over again in celebrity news, and one of those is he case of the celebrity who refuses to pay taxes, and then, who goes to jail for said violation.

Ja Rule is the latest celebrity to get prison time for failing to pay taxes. He was sentenced to 28 months in prison in a New Jersey courtroom for failing to file income tax returns over five years.

Ja Rule, real name Jeffrey Atkins, lamented to the judge: “I in no way attempted to deceive the government or do anything illegal,” he said minutes before being sentenced, the Associated Press reported. “I was a young man who made a lot of money – 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.”

Ja Rule’s apology might’ve meant something in 1995, but in the current time of music when musicians are empowered as big business machines and in a time when they have evolved to become the decision makers in the music industry, it makes no sense that Rule didn’t know how to get help with his finances. He had enough help to rule the charts and negotiate a film career yet he couldn’t get any help in hiring a lawyer?  Rule just may have taken the extra care to be careless in this situation.

Alongside this sentencing, Rule is also serving time for criminal weapon possession, for which he was arrested in 2007.