Rapper Fat Joe will serve four months in prison this fall for failing to pay more than $1 million in federal income taxes. U.S. Magistrate Judge Cathy Waldor issued the sentence on Monday, June 24, 2013 in a Newark federal court, together with a fine of $15,000. It could have been much worse for the 42 year old rapper, whose real name is Joseph Antonio Cartagena.


According to Forbes, Cartagena had faced up to two years in prison and a $200,000 fine after he pleaded guilty in December to tax charges involving nearly $3 million of income; he has since repaid some of that money. The initial charges against him were for the years 2007 through 2010. With the plea, he admitted to failing to federal income file tax returns for 2007 and 2008.

Cartagena first made noise on the rap music scene in 1993, when his album, Represent, was released. The single from that album, “Flow Joe”, peaked at  no.1 on Billboard’s Hot Rap Singles chart. Five years later, Cartagena – by then firmly known as Fat Joe – switched album labels and released Don Cartagena, which was eventually certified gold.

The album featured such rap luminaries as Diddy (then Puff Daddy), Nas and Jadakiss. He continued his streak on his next album adding a line up which included Ja Rule (who took a plea in his own tax evasion case), Ashanti, Ludacris, and R. Kelly (who has had his own share of money problems).