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4/2008 - Actor Wesley Snipes slammed with 3 years in prison for misdemeanor tax
convictions
Ocala, Florida- In a sincere effort to convince a judge that his conviction on tax charges
should cost him nothing more than home detention and some public service
announcements....Wesley Snipes wrote the government $5 million in checks...had well known
friends vouch for him and highlighted his clean criminal record. None of it worked. The
actor was ordered to do prison time.
Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison for failing to file tax returns, the maximum
penalty and a victory for prosecutors who sought to make an example of the action star.
Snipes' lawyers had spent much of the day in court offering dozens of letters from family
members, friends — even fellow actors Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington —
attesting to his good character. His attorneys recommended he be given home detention and
ordered to make public service announcements because his three convictions were all
misdemeanors and the actor had no previous criminal record.
But U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Snipes exhibited a "history of
contempt over a period of time" for U.S. tax laws, and granted prosecutors the
three-year sentence they requested — one year for each of Snipes' convictions of
willfully failing to file a tax return from 1999-2001.
"In my mind these are serious crimes, albeit misdemeanors," Hodges said.
Snipes apologized while reading from a written statement for his "costly
mistakes," but never mentioned the word taxes.
"I am an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist,
unschooled in the science of law and finance," Snipes said. He said his wealth and
celebrity attracted "wolves and jackals like flies are attracted to meat." He
called himself "well-intentioned, but miseducated."
Snipes surprised the court before Hodges handed down the sentence by offering the
government three checks totaling $5 million in unpaid taxes over several years, money the
government first denied but then accepted. Prosecutors called it "grandstanding"
to avoid jail time, and a mere down payment on the actor's still-undetermined multimillion
dollar tax bill.
The action star of the "Blade" trilogy, "White Men Can't Jump,"
"Jungle Fever" and other films hasn't filed a tax return since 1998, the
government alleged. Snipes and the IRS will work in future civil proceedings to determine
his full tax liability, plus interest and penalties.
Snipes was the highest-profile criminal tax target in years, and prosecutors called for a
heavy sentence to deter others from trying to obstruct the IRS. The government alleged
Snipes made at least $13.8 million for the years in question and owed $2.7 million in back
taxes.
Snipes was acquitted in February of five additional charges, including felony tax fraud
and conspiracy. Co-defendants Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn were convicted on both
those counts. Kahn, who refused to defend himself in court, was sentenced to 10 years,
while Rosile received 54 months. Both will serve three years of supervised release. Snipes
will serve one year of supervised release.
Snipes and Rosile remain free and will be notified when they are to surrender to
authorities. Defense attorney Carmen Hernandez signaled in court that Snipes would pursue
an appeal.
Kahn was the founder of American Rights Litigators, and a successor group, Guiding Light
of God Ministries, that purported to help members legally avoid paying taxes. Rosile, a
former accountant who lost his licenses in Ohio and Florida, prepared Snipes' paperwork.
Snipes maintained in a years-long battle with the IRS he did not have to pay taxes, using
fringe arguments common to "tax protesters" who say the government has no legal
right to collect. After joining Kahn's group, the government said Snipes instructed his
employees to stop paying their own taxes and sought $11 million in 1996 and 1997 taxes he
legally paid.
Prosecutors sought to justify the maximum sentence by raising those and other details from
the IRS investigation, as well as a tax loss even for years in which Snipes was acquitted
of failing to file a return. Such "relevant conduct" is allowed by law for a
judge's consideration at sentencing.
Criminal tax prosecutions are relatively rare — usually the cases are handled in
civil court, where the government has a lower burden of proof. Prosecutors said Snipes'
case was important to send a message to would-be tax protesters not to test the
government.
Snipes' lawyers said he was no threat to society, and called four character witnesses
Thursday, including television's Judge Joe Brown, who incited applause from the gallery by
suggesting Snipes was no different than "mega-corporate entities" that legally
avoid taxes.
Hodges twice halted the proceedings to quiet the crowd, threatening to clear everyone out
if they made another outburst.
Defense attorneys Hernandez and Daniel Meachum said Snipes was unfairly targeted for
prosecution because he's famous. Meachum called prosecutors "big game hunters,"
selectively prosecuting the actor while Kahn's 4,000 other clients remained free.
Hodges was not swayed.
"One of the main purposes which drives selective prosecution in tax cases is
deterrence," the judge said, while denying it had anything to do with his sentence.
"In some instances, that means those of celebrity stand greater risk of prosecution.
But there's nothing unusual about it, nor is there anything unlawful about it. It's the
way the system works."
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Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Eccentric Washington telecommunications mogul Walter C. Anderson was sentenced yesterday
to nine years in prison for failing to pay $200 million in taxes - but a federal judge
ruled the Internal Revenue Service won't be repaid for now because prosecutors botched the
plea agreement.
Anderson, the biggest convicted tax cheat in U.S. history, received the longest punishment
ever given in a tax crime case for his admitted effort to hide $365 million in personal
income in the 1990s. He avoided paying taxes by using aliases, shell companies, offshore
tax havens and secret drop boxes abroad. |
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