Snipes jailed for three years for evasion
Wesley Snipes gets full three year sentence demanded by prosecutors
Hollywood star Wesley Snipes, who declined to pay tax on the basis that he thought the tax code contained loopholes allowing him not to, has been jailed for the maximum three years for tax evasion.
Snipes, best known for his role in Blade, was given the full sentence for evading millions of dollars in taxes.
‘These are serious crimes, albeit misdemeanors, because he has a history of contempt over time,’ US District Judge William Terrell Hodges said.
Snipes’ tax advisers Eddie Ray Kahn and Douglas Rosile were jailed too, for ten years and 54 months respectively.
‘In the defendant Wesley Snipes, the court is presented with a wealthy, famous and inveterate tax scofflaw,’ said US attorney Robert O’Neill.
Snipes’ case for not paying taxes of $15.6m (£8m) rested on so-called ‘tax denial’ claims. Protesters say that various tax laws have not been properly ratified, or that foreign income is taxable but not domestic income.
The sentence was the full term demanded by prosecutors.
Further Reading:
Snipes claims he is a ‘non-resident alien’