R. Kelly was denied his early release from prison last week after prosecutors argued that he had already made $200,000 in royalties this year alone, which gives him enough money to flee from the justice system. The disgraced singer has been fighting for weeks, attempting to be granted an early release due to his fears of contracting the coronavirus. Now, he and his legal defense are using his tax situation to hammer home the fact that he’s not going anywhere, even if he’s allowed to go home.

According to new court documents filed by R. Kelly’s defense team, the singer owes $1,878,737.43 in taxes to the IRS. His lawyers are using back-taxes as leverage in their case to get him out of prison. 

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Combatting his prosecutors, Kelly’s defense says that because of his massive tax lien, the singer doesn’t even have access to the $200,000 he has earned in royalties. They argue that any money he does make can be seized by the feds, also citing the fact that he did not attempt to flee when the police were building a case against him.

R. Kelly has already been denied an early release. This is his second attempt. Do you think he’ll get out?

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There have already been rumors that taxpayers may see a delay in receiving their stimulus payouts after President Donald Trump requested for his signature to be included on the paper checks. Now it’s being reported in both Georgia and Florida that citizens are complaining that their stimulus checks have been deposited into their tax preparers’ accounts instead of their own.

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Many American citizens opt to do their own taxes, but if you’re a person who had a company or other individual prepare taxes for you, you may have been sent your stimulus check without even knowing it. Fox 5 Atlanta reports that they’ve received a number of complaints from angry residents. “All of us have different accounts so we don’t understand why our money would end up in the company’s account,” said one woman who used ATC Income Tax.

The news outlet spoke directly with the Marketing Coordinator for ATC Income Tax and they blamed the IRS for the mix-up. “The IRS crippled our operations by doing what they said they weren’t going to do,” they reportedly stated. “The IRS sent thousands of stimulus payments that should have been sent directly to taxpayers, to our bank partner Refund Advantage.”

Some officials are advising the public to check the status of their payments over on the IRS’s website to make sure the checks haven’t already been deposited elsewhere.

Floyd Mayweather is one of the most legendary boxers of all time and has made millions of dollars throughout his career. In fact, Mayweather's fights can make him upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars simply because his name draws a massive crowd. When you make a lot of money, the taxman frequently comes knocking at your door. If you don't pay these taxes, the IRS could come after you which would end up being a pretty scary sight.

Mayweather was recently on Instagram live with Antonio Brown and in the middle of their conversation, Mayweather lamented about the concept of taxes and how we have no clue where our hard-earned money goes. In fact, Mayweather claims there is no law that says we need to pay taxes. Brown seemed to agree with this notion although if they went to google, they would understand that there are harsh penalties for not paying taxes, including jail time.

No charges were filed against him and he was cleared of any wrongdoing, but Ja Rule can't seem to escape the Fyre Festival criticisms. While his former partner Billy McFarland sits behind bars, Ja has expressed interest in revamping the Fyre Festival; only this time, it would be a real concert with booked acts and edible food.

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That isn't the only business move that the rapper has been working on, because on Tuesday he shared that he has an accounting company that helps people clean up their credit, build their credit, and complete their taxes. While this is something that he's reportedly had going on for years, Ja couldn't help but find himself the target of social media trolls.

In response, the rapper stated in a since-deleted tweet, "Social media is for clowns... if all the celebs left social media there would be no more social media!!!" Accomplished actress Jackée Harry replied, "If all celebs left social media who would promote fraudulent music festivals?" She wasn't the only one to poke fun at the rapper and soon Ja found himself going back and forth with the public.

"Everyone gets on social media to follow celebs to get a glimpse of the lives you so desperately want but will probably NEVER live... ?" he said, adding that "Black ppl would be so f*cking strong if we stuck together support one another sh*t sad..." Ja also stated that all of the heat is free promo while also mentioning that he's been hated on "since 03... I ain’t stop getting money yet lol I’m good!!!" Of course, he threw in a few clown gifs for good measure. Check out a few of his tweets below.