Wesley Snipes failed to pay taxes on $37.9 million, tried to get fraudulent refunds for $11 million

[Amerigo Vespucci]

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan 10 - (Reuters) - Actor Wesley Snipes paid no federal taxes on $37.9 million in income from 1999 to 2004, even after the Internal Revenue Service told him in 2002 that he was under criminal investigation, according to documents filed ahead of Snipes' tax fraud trial.

The trial was set to begin on Monday in U.S. District Court in Ocala, Florida, 80 miles northwest of Orlando and the celebrity enclave of Isleworth, where prosecutors say Snipes lived at the time of the suspected fraud.

Snipes, 45, was charged in a 2006 indictment along with a known tax protester and a former accountant whom the U.S. Justice Department said had been barred by a federal court from preparing other people's tax returns.

The tax fraud occurred at a time when Snipes was signing movie deals worth more than $10 million each for "Blade II" and "Blade: Trinity," according to the prosecution's summary. During the six years he failed to file income tax returns or pay taxes, Snipes also tried to get fraudulent refunds from the IRS totaling $11.3 million for taxes he paid in 1996 and 1997, according to a timeline prepared by the prosecution.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080110/film_nm/usa_snipes_dc_1;_ylt=Atbjz10c4JeDUnVbzCdTvmIE1vAI

[Blue_Tires]

1. wow...that's crazy

a couple of years ago the italian government was after soccer star Maradona for like the equivalent of $60 mil in unpaid taxes

[texanwitch]

2. Looks like he is going to have to get busy making more Blade movies.

That is a lot of taxes to pay.

[jackson_dem]

3. Why did someone as rich as him do this?