Philadelphia Rapper Beanie Sigel Sentenced to Two Years

Dwight Grant—better known by his rap name, Beanie Sigel—will serve two years in prison after failing to file taxes on more than $1 million in earnings from 2003 to 2005.

Once an artist signed to Jay-Z's Roc-a-Fella Records, Grant had pleaded guilty to the charge in 2011, but was not sentenced until Thursday. He will report to prison Sept. 12.

Grant, whose Montgomery County home is in foreclosure, was known for his close ties to the Philadelphia area; the U.S. District Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania lists him at a Lansdale mailing address.

The Internal Revenue Service calculates that Grant still owes a total of about $728,536 in taxes for tax years 1999 through 2005, with $348,077 unpaid from the period for which he was sentenced.

Between 1999 and 2005, Grant earned more than $2.2 million in income and paid $10,000 in tax, according to the government's sentencing  memorandum. The maximum sentence on all three counts is three years incarceration.

U.S. District Court Judge Jan E. Dubois ordered Grant to pay all taxes, penalties and interest as determined by the IRS, and to cooperate with the IRS.

"For all we know," wrote U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger in the memorandum, "Grant has earned a significant sum of money and simply squirreled it away out of the reach of the government. He would not even cooperate with the probation officer to permit a home visit, a most-basic part of a sentence procedure."

Grant has a criminal history that includes ducking an attempted murder charge in 2005; local convictions for narcotics distribution, possession and assault; and one federal conviction for narcotics possession and firearm possession as a felon.

Grant has twice had his supervised release revoked for leaving the jurisdiction without permission.