U.S. recommends 3-year sentence for Wesley Snipes

[Shawna]

WASHINGTON —

Actor Wesley Snipes should serve a maximum three-year prison term and pay a $5 million fine for failing to file his income taxes, U.S. prosecutors recommended in a tax-season court filing.

Making an example of Snipes, after years of "brazen defiance" of U.S. tax laws aimed at cheating the government of $41 million, would help deter other tax avoiders, U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill of Florida wrote in a court document.

The recommendation was filed on Monday and released Tuesday on the annual deadline for filing U.S. income taxes.

"This case cries out for the statutory maximum term of imprisonment, as well as a substantial fine, because of the seriousness of defendant Snipes' crimes and because of the singular opportunity this case presents to deter tax crime nationwide," O'Neill wrote.

Snipes, who starred in the "Blade" movies series, was convicted in February on three misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file federal tax returns for 1999-2001. Each count carries a maximum sentence of one year. Snipes was acquitted on two felony charges of filing false claims and fraud in seeking millions of dollars of refunds in other tax years.

Two men affiliated with American Rights Litigators/Guiding Light of God ministries, a Florida-based tax protest organization, were convicted at the same trial, on conspiracy to defraud and false-claims charges.

The sentencing recommendation said Snipes, with the aid of the other two men, "brazenly waged a campaign" against the Internal Revenue Service by sending phony claims, filings and demands to the agency and making "frivolous" Freedom of Information Act requests for IRS records.

(Reporting by Randall Mikkelsen; Editing by Eric Beech and Bill Trott)

(c) Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

[ky2here]

I'm in full support of tax evaders joining the ranks with Al Capone, Leona Helmsley and Richard Hatch. There's room at the inn!

[Shawna]

well i think that he should get no special treatment ,what the courts decide ,he should just deal.Bc being a celebrity makes you no better than the rest of us .we pay so they should pay

[Trina]

Agreed, I'm glad that he is getting punished for something that everyone has to do, being a celebrity shouldn't change that.

[Shawna]

Snipes Headed to the Slammer
2ba0c604-7c1c-44b7-85c3-c21cd61742b0

Wesley Snipes
Gina Serpe, eonline
4 hours ago

Wesley Snipes fought the law. Unfortunately for him, the law won.

Senior U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges has sentenced the tax-averse Blade star to three years in prison, resulting from his conviction on three misdemeanor counts of willful failure to file a tax return earlier this year.

The punishment is the maximum sentence Snipes could face after a federal jury found him guilty on Feb. 1.

The harsh sentence came down after a daylong hearing in Ocala, Fla., in which both sides repeated their arguments as to whether or not the 45-year-old action star should face prison time for his IRS-dodging ways.

Snipes donned a black suit and tie for his day in court, arriving at the courthouse with an entourage of roughly a dozen briefcase-toting hangers-on.

TV gavel-wielder Judge Greg Mathis was among those present in the courtroom for the sentencing. Mathis, along with Woody Harrelson, Denzel Washington and another small-screen jurist, Judge Joe Brown, wrote letters in defense of Snipes, which were made public yesterday and read in court today prior to the actor's sentencing.

The prosecution had long made clear they were gunning for the maximum sentence for the star.

While jurors cleared Snipes of two felony charges and three additional misdemeanors back in February, he was found guilty of willful failure to file his returns between 1999-2001, neglecting to report millions of dollars of income to the IRS. The exact figure ended up being contested, with Snipes' attorneys claiming the star was liable for only $228,000, while the feds claimed the figure was considerably higher—$2.7 million, to be exact.

When Carmen Hernandez, one of Snipes' attorneys, argued regardless that this morning that Snipes' crimes weren't serious enough to warrant the maximum sentence, Hodges quickly set her straight.

"Any offense that places my liberty at risk is a serious one," the judge replied.

In a 37-page memo to the court filed earlier this month, U.S. Attorney Robert E. O'Neill called Snipes a "notorious" and repeat offender who should be made an example, not only because of the amount of money involved, but because of the high-profile—and, O'Neill said, misleading—nature of the case.

In his petition, he said the star's team has spun the jury's convictions "in the mainstream media as a 'victory' for Snipes" and urged the judge to send the message that Snipes did not in fact "beat the rap."

Job done.

© 2008 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All rights reserved., http://www.eonline.com/about/copyright/index.jsp

[toughturtles]

taxes come to us all

[locustdd]

Welcome people .. you're been taxed like everyone else.