Hip Hop’s ‘Mr. Biggs’ Sentenced to Prison

65 year old Ronald Isley, soul legend, lead singer of the Isley Brothers, AKA – ''Mr. Biggs'' to the Hip Hop community and sometime R. Kelly collaborator has been convicted and now sentenced to 3 years and one month in prison on tax evasion charges and was ordered to pay over 3 million in fines.

Ronnie Isley, aka ‘Mr. Biggs’, who suffered a minor stroke back in Aug. 2004 and has had a recent bout with kidney cancer, has appeared on rap and hip hop tracks with Tupac (2Pac), Mos Def, the Roots, Black Eyed Peas and many others; is expected to be sent to a prison hospital facility.

The federal government claimed he failed to report performance and royalty income to the agency.

The 65 year old was indicted in October ’05 on five counts of tax evasion covering the years from 1997 to 2002 and one count of failing to file an income tax return.

The IRS contended that Ronnie Isley was involved in a host of deceptive practices relating to his finances during that five-year period, among them, a royalty check scheme where Isley deposited checks for his own use that had been issued to other members of the band, including his dead brother, O''Kelly.

The government also claims Ronnie Isley bought personal cars using a business account and paid band members in cash to keep the transactions off the books.

U.S. District Court Judge Dean Pregerson said “The term serial tax avoider has been used. I think that's appropriate."

Hip hop's ''Mr. Biggs’ originally was facing 20 years in prison.