Bankrupt Banker: Wesley Snipes

Wesley Snipes says he will appeal against a three-year jail term

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fqNNRNrAACr5bimUDaVgdN2LHEapIZc-_B-RVdY1TxAF21S74g8IIVH6FOIoGMZ2cdJmw2eLOSZp3z7IfYDpf0i5OdCHSdNHCWfKnrjznMfmPd_TdoIR5EkzEzAixkCA3YTKNUH6Fn3v/s1600-h/Wesley-Snipes-2008042509083003hg2.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5193289486477855746" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fqNNRNrAACr5bimUDaVgdN2LHEapIZc-_B-RVdY1TxAF21S74g8IIVH6FOIoGMZ2cdJmw2eLOSZp3z7IfYDpf0i5OdCHSdNHCWfKnrjznMfmPd_TdoIR5EkzEzAixkCA3YTKNUH6Fn3v/s320/Wesley-Snipes-2008042509083003hg2.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a> actor Wesley Snipes says he will appeal against a three-year jail term for failing to lodge tax returns from 1999 to 2004.US Federal Court judge William Terrell Hodges laid down the harshest possible sentence against Snipes, after the star of such movies as Demolition Man and the Blade trilogy of vampire movies was found guilty by a jury in February on three misdemeanour charges.US Attorney Scotland Morris, who argued the Government's case, said Snipes owed more than $US20 million ($A21 million) in back taxes and penalties.The actor made a $US5 million payment to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Thursday but Mr Morris dismissed it as "a fraction of what he owes"."Snipes' long prison sentence should send a loud and crystal-clear message to all tax defiers that if they engage in similar tax-defier conduct, they face joining him and his co-defendants … as inmates in prison," said Nathan Hochman, an official at the Justice Department's tax division.IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman said: "The law is very clear: people must pay their taxes. There is no secret formula that eliminates a person's tax obligations, nor are there any special exceptions."Lawyers for Snipes, 45, said they would appeal."We were hoping for a complete acquittal," lawyer Linda Moreno told reporters. "I have faith in the process and I have faith in the jury system. We will appeal."Another defence lawyer, Carmen Hernandez, said: "Mr Snipes was sentenced because he's Mr Snipes." Judge Hodges denied that Snipes' celebrity was in any way linked to the sentence.The actor's lawyers asked Judge Hodges to allow Snipes to be sent to a prison close to his home in the north-eastern state of New Jersey. The judge said he would consider the request.A martial arts fanatic, Snipes is famous for inserting quotations from Sun Tzu's The Art of War into his characters' roles.Snipes, who has appeared in about 50 movies, also starred in White Men Can't Jump and Spike Lee's Jungle Fever.During the day-long hearing the actor apologised to the court for his actions.Ms Hernandez argued that Snipes in August offered to plead guilty to one misdemeanour and pay the back taxes to avoid prison time, but prosecutors had demanded he admit to a felony, a harsher crime.

Wesley Snipes says he will appeal against a three-year jail term

actor Wesley Snipes says he will appeal against a three-year jail term for failing to lodge tax returns from 1999 to 2004.US Federal Court j...

Wesley Snipes has been cleared of federal tax-fraud

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNCvyvOV0TTEFbjTNAEDMV8Eu6oiUqsDQpJ3Q1n9inwmUsKukRGqvrjEgXfwgEo63dg22j79JdkKjm1wkbSEhcXCPZ8Emm6t4c3fQoVrOKQEbipYsh6P0uUSPLvgOBlqgKFoisciCWQIBE/s1600-h/wesley_snipes_mugshot.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5162770538629841250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNCvyvOV0TTEFbjTNAEDMV8Eu6oiUqsDQpJ3Q1n9inwmUsKukRGqvrjEgXfwgEo63dg22j79JdkKjm1wkbSEhcXCPZ8Emm6t4c3fQoVrOKQEbipYsh6P0uUSPLvgOBlqgKFoisciCWQIBE/s400/wesley_snipes_mugshot.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" /></a> Wesley Snipes has been cleared of federal tax-fraud and conspiracy charges on Friday, but was convicted on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return. From one perspective, it's a huge victory for Snipes as he has just reduced his potential jail time from 16 years to three, and even then, he is unlikely to do any time at all. But he still has some problems. First, the bizarre arguments that he put up - that he was a victim of crooked advisers, that the Internal Revenue Service had no legal authority because it's not a proper government entity and that he himself was a "nonresident alien" and therefore not subject to tax laws - have not exactly done his reputation the world of good. As Columbia law professor Michael Dorf points out in his blog, the whole case has left Snipes with enormous problems starting with the $14 million in back taxes, plus interest charges and penalties on unpaid taxes. "As in all such instances, we cannot know the precise outcome without further information; but it at least seems plausible that Snipes will be required to pay another $10 million or more,'' Dorf writes. "His attorneys' fees surely added up to millions of dollars as well. Finally, he is now a convicted criminal, which is not only a blot on his record but can cause problems in a variety of circumstances (such as foreign travel, which is particularly important to a movie actor). In short, even if Snipes manages to avoid jail time (which I hope he won't), the price he will pay is steep. In an attempt to evade $14 million in taxes, Snipes must now pay that amount in full plus interest plus penalties probably exceeding $10 million, plus legal fees, all while now carrying a criminal record. Add in the years of uncertainty that this prosecution caused Snipes, as well as the personal toll of a trial carrying the possibility of 16 years in prison, and this does not look like an advertisement for getting into the tax denial game." Still as Professor Ellen S Podgor says in the White Collar Crime Prof blog, the acquittal must be making the Government wonder whether it was worth the time, cost and effort and whether it would have been better to proceed with civil penalties. Nevertheless, it's not exactly a great result for the Internal Revenue Service, although it can still sue him in civil court for back taxes for the years in which he didn't file returns, from 1999 through at least 2004. The government says Snipes earned almost $38 million during that time.

Wesley Snipes has been cleared of federal tax-fraud

Wesley Snipes has been cleared of federal tax-fraud and conspiracy charges on Friday, but was convicted on three misdemeanor counts of faili...