Singer Lauryn Hill charged with federal tax dogging, says family safety comes first

The eight time Grammy Award winner, Lauryn Hill was charged for failing to pay her federal taxes on mote than $1.8 million she made during a course of three years. Lauryn defends herself saying that she chose deferring the payments in order to protect her family.

The 37 year old actress, who rose to fame in the 1990’s with her hip hop albums, issued a detailed statement following the day she was charged with tax evasion. Hill, who has not released a single album since 2001, said during the period from 2005 to 2007, when she failed to pay the taxes, her family was going through tough times, and she did what was in their best interests.

"I did not deliberately abandon my fans, nor did I deliberately abandon any responsibilities, but I did however put my safety, health and freedom and the freedom, safety and health of my family first over all other material concerns!" she said according to a report by Reuters. She said since then, her intentions have always been to rectify what she had done wrong.

In her statement, she said she has always been punctual and honest in paying her taxes and she opted to stop doing so only when she thought it was time to withdraw from the society to ensure the wellbeing of herself and her family. "Obviously, the danger I faced was not accepted as reasonable grounds for deferring my tax payments, as authorities, who despite being told all of this, still chose to pursue action against me, as opposed to finding an alternative solution," she said.

Through the last six years, Hill has made only sporadic appearances after her unexplained departure before her brief return to the lime light in 2005. Since then, she has been spending a quite life in her native New Jersey town, with her six children, five of which are from Rohan Marley, son of Bob Marley.

More recently, she was seen making a few public appearances, performing before a sell out crowd at London’s Indigo2 arena. Only last week, she was praised after her grand performance at the Highline Ballroom in Manhattan.

According to property records, Hill owns at least two houses in South Orange, and uses another leased home as her recording studio. Hill is scheduled to appear before the U.S magistrate judge in Newark federal court on June 29th.