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Akon's Criminal Record Called Into Question

TheSmokingGun.com has called Akon out on his supposed criminal record, revealing many of his harder-than-thou claims to either be false or exaggerated. For starters, the R&B singer was never "facing 75 years" for being the leader of a car theft ring. In fact, all he got was several months in Dekalb County Jail for stealing one car before those charges were dropped.

"There was no conviction," the site's report states. "[And] there was no prison term between 1999 and 2002."

One confirmed Akon conviction was a felony for gun possession in 1998, which resulted in three years of probation. Aside from that, the troubled star—he recently pushed a teenager off stage during a New York concert and simulated a sex act with a 15-year-old girl during a Trinidad gig—never quite lived a life of nabbing Lamborghinis and Porches. And who knows if he really wrote the song "Locked Up" while in jail now? Only Akon, and he's not saying—his publicist and manager have not responded to The Smoking Gun's claims yet.

—The ARTISTdirect Staff
04.18.08