Twista pleads guilty to failing to pay taxes, faces prison time

Twista, the Chicago rapper born Carl Mitchell, pleaded guilty to five counts of willfully failing to pay income tax and now faces up to five years in prison. The plea, entered June 24, came after federal investigators said he had ignored years of warnings about unpaid taxes that now exceed $440,000. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 22, 2026.

The case turns on the word willfully. IRS Criminal Investigations said Mitchell was repeatedly told by both the agency and his accountants that he owed the money, but did not resolve the debt. Prosecutors say he earned income from performances, album sales, streaming and royalties, then arranged for advances on future royalty payments through a third-party company in a way that kept the funds out of the IRS’s reach.

That is the kind of conduct federal tax prosecutors look for when they bring criminal charges rather than continue civil collection. The allegation is not simply that Mitchell fell behind during a rough stretch. It is that he knew the debt existed, received repeated notices, and still chose financial moves that helped shield money while the bill remained unpaid.

Mitchell’s legal exposure is larger than the five tax years at the center of the plea. The IRS said unpaid liabilities date back as far as 2011, a sign that the problem stretched across much of the period after his mainstream commercial peak. Investigators also said he made luxury purchases, including at least four vehicles, even as the debt mounted.

Twista’s name has been tied for years to a very different kind of financial story. Billboard reported that Kamikaze debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in early 2004 and sold 312,000 copies in its first week, powered by Slow Jamz, his collaboration with Ye, formerly Kanye West, and Jamie Foxx. Long before that, he had built a reputation for his rapid-fire chopper style and an earlier breakthrough in the 1990s, the kind of career arc that can create steady income streams but also complex royalty and tax obligations.

He lives in Crete, Illinois, in the Chicago area, and his case shows how federal enforcement reaches public figures long after the peak of their fame. When artists rely on royalties, streaming and touring money, unpaid taxes can keep growing in the background until the government decides the pattern is no longer just neglect, but a crime.