Rap Star “{Fat Joe}” is currently facing two years in prison after pleading guilty due to failure in paying taxes amounting to nearly $3 million over the last two years. The famous rapper, Joseph Cartagena in real life, who filmed one of his music videos in the South of France, submitted his plea to federal court in New Jersey. The 42-year old Miami Beach resident pleaded to two counts covering 2007 and 2008, but the verdict will be further deliberated by the government’s preliminary contention to his unsuccessful duty to pay income taxes in 2007 to 2010. Federal prosecutors said the total tax loss for those four years was $718,038. Joe was known for his collaboration with Ludacris and T-Pain on a remix to DJ Khaled’s song “Welcome to My Hood”. It was integrated as the final track on Khaled’s fifth studio album, “We the Best Forever”. According to an interview with XXL Magazine on September 21, 2011, Fat Joe affirmed his album Darkside Vol. 2 as his first official mixtape which includes the Mark Henry produced songs “Massacre on Madison” and “Drop a Body”. The rapper was seen with Neyo at Cannes in France, and was also seen playing poker with TI at Aladdin Resort and Casino last summer. Although there are no reports of him playing poker recently at any land-based or online casino, the rapper still hopes to pay back the taxes before his trial on April 3, 2013. Online poker websites such as Partypoker.fr offer several poker games including the most eminent poker game, Texas Hold’Em. French poker players normally participate by betting an amount of money, usually in form of chips; it is believed that poker originated from France as well.
{France} has become the poker capital of Europe and is recognized as the new home of the World Series of Poker Europe in 2011. France has produced a great number of prominent poker players over the years and also created 22 poker professionals who have been participating in the WSOP yearly.
On top of the list is French Poker player Bertand “ElkY” Grosspellier, a known Starcraft champion turned poker title holder. He completed the Triple Crown (A win of EPT, WPT, and at the WSOP) and was notably one of the high flying online gamers of all time. Unlike some European countries, online poker is legal in France. Players just need to make sure that the site they are playing on is licensed and regulated by the French gaming authority ARJEL (Autorité de régulation des jeux en ligne).
Meanwhile, Fat Joe’s lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman said his client “had already taken steps to resolve this situation” before he was charged.