It turns out Wesley Snipe’s bad boy TV persona transfers over to the real world as well.
The actor is facing up to three years in prison as a result for avoiding taxes for five years. According to E! online, the attorneys for the star have filed an appeal against the incarceration time, claiming that the sentence is “unreasonable.” They are also arguing that the tax-evasion trial, which took place in Florida in February (finding Snipes guilty on three charges), should have taken place in New York.
Apparently, Snipes, who made an estimated $13.8 million over the past three years, owes the IRS millions of dollars. Peter Goldberger, Snipes’ attorney, said “The right to a correct venue is part and parcel to the right to a jury trial” (eonline.com). Snipe himself did not show up for the hearings, but is roaming around after paying for his $1 million bond after appealing the sentence.
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Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison yesterday for tax evasion.
He was not forced to surrender immmediately, but must surrender at a later date closer to his New Jersey home.
The actor was given the maximum sentence possible after prosecutors called him a “truly notorious offender.”
“Snipes’ long prison sentence should send a loud and crystal clear message to all tax defiers that is they engage in similar tax defier conduct, they face joining him and his co-defendants … as inmates in prison,” said Nathan J. Hochman, Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Justice Department’s Tax Divison.
Snipes was convicted in February on three charges for not filing his taxes. According to reports, Snipes dodged $15 million in tax by hiding millions offshore and falsely applied for tax refunds.
Snipes has starred in Blade, White Men Can’t Jump, and Demolition Man.
Wesley Snipes will continue to shoot the movie “Gallowwalker” in Namibia despite being charged for tax fraud in the U.S.
Snipes, who is best known for his role in the vampire action flick, “Blade,” plays a cursed gunman whose victims pull a “Night of the Living Dead” and come back to haunt him in “Gallowwalker.”
CBC reports that the film’s producer, Joanne Reay, made a statement Monday regarding the charges and their effect on the film shoot.
“We are aware of the issue around the tax charges but we are not discussing it,” Reay said.
Snipes was charged with eight counts of tax fraud on Oct. 17 in Tampa, Fla. after authorities discovered that the actor had illegally received $12 million US in tax refunds between 1996 and 1997.
It appears that U.S. authorities will not travel to Namibia to arrest him.
