DMX Released From Jail After Posting $500k Bond

Rapper DMX — on the hook for allegedly failing to cough up $1.7 million in taxes — wheezed his way through his arraignment in Manhattan Federal Court on Friday.

The gravel-throated artist, wearing T-shirt emblazoned with the word “RAW,” had to rely on a red inhaler at one point during the hearing, where he pleaded not guilty to 14 counts of tax evasion, failure to file and other charges.

After posting $500,000 bond, the Yonkers-born rapper, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was asked what he’d like to say to his fans.

“Thanks for the support,” DMX said outside the courthouse. “My life is in God’s hands.”

Acting US Attorney Joon Kim said in a statement that DMX “went out of his way to evade taxes,” avoiding personal bank accounts and paying expenses largely in cash.

“For years … the recording artist and performer known as DMX made millions from his chart-topping songs, concert performances and television shows,” Kim said.

“But while raking in millions from his songs, including his 2003 hit ‘X Gon’ Give it to Ya,’ DMX didn’t give any of it to the IRS.”

The rapper allegedly refused to complete taping of the reality TV show “Couples Therapy” in 2011 until producers issued a check that didn’t withhold any taxes, according to the statement.

The platinum-selling artist owes $1.7 million in taxes for income earned from 2002 through 2005 and ignored the IRS efforts to collect the debt, officials said in a statement.

He earned more than $2.3 million between 2010 and 2015 but didn’t file a single tax return during that period, according to the statement. The hundreds of thousands of dollars he earned from royalties were allegedly deposited into the bank accounts of his managers and disbursed as cash, court papers allege.

Further, he lied about his income in a bankruptcy filing, claiming he earned a mere $10,000 in 2013 when he’d actually made $250,000, the papers state. The “Party Up (in Here)” rhymer, who has 15 children with nine different women, has filed for bankruptcy three times.

His lawyer, Murray Richman, blamed the tax lapse on DMX’s financial advisers.

“He hires people he relies upon, and they don’t do it, and he’s the one that gets charged,” the lawyer said.

“They didn’t do it — they took their money, they took their percentage, and they left.”

DMX faces up to five years in prison on the top count.

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