Wesley Snipes Charged with Tax Fraud

4/16/2008
s. Belkin
Attorney suggests maximum sentence to set an example for other tax evaders.

According to NY Daily News, U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill of Florida has suggested that Wesley Snipes be put in jail for three years and fined $5 million. Snipes was convicted in February of three counts of failure to file federal income tax returns. O'Neill's assessment is based on the fact that each count carries a maximum sentence of one year.

Why should Snipes get the maximum prison sentence plus a hefty fine, you ask? O'Neill believes that making an example of Snipes for his "brazen defiance" of U.S. tax laws would deter other tax avoiders. Daily News says that Snipes sent phony claims, filings and demands to the IRS and that his actions "aimed at cheating the government of $41 million."

Snipes was previously charged with fraud and filing false claims, seeking millions of dollars of refunds in earlier tax years. He was, however, acquitted on these two felony charges.

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