At first I thought this was a simple matter of slight underreporting, but – jeezus – this guy’s in deep shit. Looks like he committed serious fraud.
[quote]Wesley Snipes Is Charged With Tax Fraud
A federal grand jury in Tampa, Fla., has indicted the actor Wesley Snipes, star of the “Blade” trilogy and other films, on tax fraud and conspiracy charges after a four-year investigation by the Internal Revenue Service. The indictment was unsealed yesterday.
Mr. Snipes failed to turn himself in yesterday after a judge issued an arrest warrant on Friday.
Mr. Snipes, 44, who lives in the Tampa area, was indicted for failing to file returns since 1999, for trying to get $11.7 million in taxes refunded for 1996 and 1997 by claiming he did not owe taxes and for submitting $13 million in fake checks to pay his taxes.
He filed an amended 1997 tax return, court records show, in which the signature statement, known as the jurat, was subtly altered. A “no” was inserted before the word “penalty” in the statement filed “under penalty of perjury.”
The indictment ties Mr. Snipes to promoters of tax evasion schemes . . . in a movement that contends that most Americans are not required to pay income tax, an argument the courts have repeatedly rejected as frivolous.
The Justice Department said four years ago that at least 152,000 people had tried to evade paying tens of millions of dollars in taxes citing this argument, known as the 861 position. So far at least eight people taking this position have been convicted.
Mr. Snipes faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on all counts. . . [/quote]
nytimes.com/2006/10/18/movies/18snip.html
Always seems strange when a person achieves such great success and riches and turns out to be a total moron who blows it all through his stupidity. :loco:
