American rapper and actor DMX was released from Gilmer Federal Correctional Institution in West Virginia after serving a one-year sentence for tax fraud, according to reports.
Simmons pleaded guilty in November 2017 to one count of tax fraud for "evading the payment of income taxes in the period from 2010 through 2016." He was reportedly able to get away with it for some time by living mostly off cash.
"In total, during that time period, Simmons engaged in a scheme to conceal millions of dollars of income from the IRS and to avoid paying $1.7 million of tax liabilities," said prosecutors in a statement obtained by Vulture.
Initially, prosecutors urged Judge Jed Rakoff to sentence Simmons to between four years and nine months and up to five years in prison. However, Simmon's lawyers wanted Simmons to go to rehab instead of prison.
In an unusual move, during Simmon's sentencing, his lawyers played the music video for his song "Slippin" in hopes of convincing the judge to be lenient.
Simmon's attorney played the music video in an effort to illustrate how far Simmons had come since his horrific childhood, insisting that his client deserved mercy.
"His life experiences were horrible," attorney Murray Richman said. "I've heard horrible tales, but I've never heard such horrible upbringing as this. We thought the video would really demonstrate to the court just what he had to go through to get where he was."
"I grant you he has been arrested over 30 times in his life," Richmann added. "But in the last five years, he has never been arrested, and he's trying to pull his life back together."
While Rakoff had sympathy for Simmons, he still thought that prison was the best option in order to help deter other people from tax evasion.
The 48-year-old rapper will be under supervised release for three years.
Additionally, the rapper has already scheduled a "welcome home" party that will be held at the Lotus Lounge in West Haven, Connecticut, on Feb. 8.