RONALD ISLEY - ISLEY SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS FOR TAX EVASION

ISLEY SENTENCED TO THREE YEARS FOR TAX EVASION

Soul singer RONALD ISLEY was sentenced to three years in prison yesterday (01SEP06) for tax evasion. The ISLEY BROTHERS legend, who was also ordered to pay $3.1 million (GBP1.7 million) to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), engaged in a "pervasive, long-term, pathological" evasion of federal taxes, according to Los Angeles US District Court Judge DEAN PREGERSON. The 65-year-old was found guilty of five counts of tax evasion and one count of willful failure to file a tax return last October (05), and returned to court to discover his fate yesterday. During last year's three-week trial, prosecutors contended Isley failed to make any payments to the IRS between 1976 and 1996. Isley's lawyer told the court yesterday that his client was selling off his assets in an attempt to pay his tax bill, and also attempted to secure probation for his client because of his poor health, following a stroke and a battle with kidney cancer. But Judge Pregerson refused to take Isley's medical conditions into account.