Earl Simmons, the Yonkers musician and actor better known as the rapper “Dark Man X,” “DMX” or more simply as “X,” was arrested on Thursday on tax fraud charges.
For several years, according to acting U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim and IRS criminal investigations official James D. Robnett, Simmons concealed millions of dollars of income.
Simmons, 46, was born in Mount Vernon and raised in Yonkers. He has also listed a Mount Kisco address in bankruptcy court filings.
In 1998, he released a hit single, “Get at Me Dog,” his debut album, “It”™s Dark and Hell is Hot,” and then the album “Flesh of My Flesh, Blood of My Blood.” Both albums rose to the top of the Billboard 200 chart; the first time that a rapper had achieved that distinction in the same year.
He has been nominated for three Grammy Awards and has won two American Music Awards. He also found success in films, such as “Romeo Must Die” and “Exit Wounds,” and in television.
But his monetary success, according to an indictment unsealed on July 13, was not shared with the taxman.
In 2008, the Internal Revenue Service assessed him for nearly $1.8 million in unpaid taxes, interest and penalties. None of it has been paid, the indictment states.
The government said he earned at least $2.3 million, from 2010 to 2015, in royalties and fees. But Simmons did not file personal income tax returns.
He allegedly concealed his income by maintaining a cash lifestyle. For instance, royalties were deposited into bank accounts of managers who then paid his personal expenses or gave him cash.
Around 2011 and 2012, he appeared in the “Celebrity Couples Therapy” television show, for which he was paid $125,000. When he received the first payment, Simmons allegedly refused to tape the remainder of the show until the check was reissued without withholding taxes.
The government states Simmons refused offers from business associates to help him comply with his tax obligations.
Simmons has filed for bankruptcy protection several times. In one case, the indictment states, he listed his income as unknown for 2011 and 2012 and as $10,000 for 2013. In fact, the government claims, he had income of more than $1.1 million in those years.
Simmons was charged with 14 counts, including impeding the administration of IRS laws, evading payment of income taxes, evading tax assessments and failure to file tax returns.
