Ja Rule was sentenced to 28 months for his tax returns case in New Jersey this morning (July 18), but according to his lawyer, Stacey Richman, the Queens-bred MC experienced a big win.

According to Richman, Ja, who is currently serving two years in Rikers Island for a 2007 arrest on gun charges, will be allowed to serve both sentences at the same time. Additionally, while the federal government was seeking to have Rule spend an additional year behind bars, he will most likely only have to serve a few months.

“The sentences are running concurrently,” Richman told XXLMag.com. “The intent of the court is that there would be potentially an additional four months, but the government had sought for an additional year. So the judge was very kind in issuing a variance because it was her concern that there had to be some aspect of separate penance for this federal action.”

Last March, Ja pleaded guilty to tax evasion, admitting that between 2004 and 2006 he failed to pay taxes on roughly $3 million. He was ordered to pay back the government $1.1 million

As previously reported, Ja also plead guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon stemming from an arrest four years ago. He began that two-year sentence on June 8. —Jesse Gissen

Read XXL's June 2011 feature with Ja Rule here.

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