NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - A U.S. judge sentenced Grammy-winning hip hop artist Lauryn Hill to three months in prison, three months in home confinement and a $50,000 fine on Monday for federal tax evasion.
Hill had pleaded guilty last year to three counts of failing to file tax returns on more than $1.8 million between 2005 and 2007 and could have been sentenced to three years in prison.
On the eve of her scheduled sentencing, Hill paid at least $504,000 in federal back taxes plus state taxes and penalties, her attorney said on Sunday.
In April, a U.S. magistrate judge admonished Hill for failing to make promised payments on her unpaid taxes ahead of her sentencing.
She had expected to raise the money from a new recording contract last fall but only paid $50,000 when she did not complete the expected tracks, her attorney said.
A new single by Hill, her first in several years, called "Neurotic Society," was posted on iTunes on Friday.
"Here is a link to a piece that I was ‘required' to release immediately, by virtue of the impending legal deadline," her Tumblr page said on Saturday.
Hill's 1998 solo album "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" won the singer, a former member of the Fugees, five Grammy awards.
Hill is from South Orange, New Jersey. She was sentenced at U.S. District Court in Newark, New Jersey.
(Editing by Daniel Trotta and Andrew Hay)