Wesley Snipes has filed a request in federal court for permission to leave the country for two trips while his appeal on tax evasion charges is being considered.
Snipes has requested to go to London to sit in on the editing process for his new horror flick Gallowwalker.
Snipes has also requested permission to fly to Bangkok to film the action thriller Chasing the Dragon. Production is set to begin on that film in early September and last about 8 weeks.
Snipes had been scheduled to report to federal prison on June 3 to serve a three year sentence for failing to file tax returns but is free on bail pending an appeal.
Snipes’ attorneys argued for the request, claiming:
He has never presented and does not currently present a risk of flight. Further, the circumstances of the work, surrounded by a cast of other actors and film and production professionals as well as Mr. Snipes’ contractual obligations to complete these films provide additional assurances that he does not present a risk of flight; were he to abscond under these circumstances, it would destroy his ability to earn a living for the rest if his life. Mr. Snipes will of course voluntarily return after his work on this film, as he has done each time he has been granted permission by this Court.
It is essential that Mr. Snipes complete these two projects to satisfy his civil tax liabilities and provide for his family.
I would agree that in most cases, it’s better to have a taxpayer who is working than one who is not. However, Snipes hasn’t exactly been cooperative with respect to his arrest and his trial. He initially refused to return to the US from Namibia to face charges of tax evasion though he claims that his attorneys told him that they were working it out. Nonetheless, a warrant was issued for his arrest and he responded by comparing himself to a rape victim.
My best guess is that his request will be granted. Of course, I’ve been wrong a couple of times thus far with respect to this Snipes case. The twists and turns have kept it interesting at best…
I like to give people the benefit of the doubt on a lot of things, especially when it comes to taxes. It is, after all, easy to rely on the advice of others – tax professionals – and make bad choices. In fact, a lot of what I do involves helping people get out of the bad choices that they make. Usually, this happens by figuring out what the better choices are and trying to get back to that point.
Apparently, this doesn’t apply to everybody.
My favorite whiny-yet-plays-tough-guy of late, Wesley Snipes, made one of those bad choices. He filed no taxes between 1999 and 2004 and then filed fraudulent returns claiming millions of dollars in refunds in 1996 and 1997. Easy mistakes to make, right? I mean, if you’re a famous Hollywood actor, why bother paying taxes? Aren’t you somehow exempt?
Wesley Snipes seems to think so. In addition to claiming to be a victim (are you as sympathetic as I am here?) of bad advice, he is also arguing that he has been selectively targeted for prosecution because he’s black.
Right. And Richard Hatch was targeted because he was often naked.
Or maybe – and this is just a guess – it was because both of them cheated on their taxes.
I’m not sure what the rules are in Namibia (where Snipes was hiding from the charges against him), but here in the United States, we kind of require everyone to file their taxes, no matter what color you are. Yet, in his motion to dismiss the indictment against him, Snipes argued that the charges were levied against him because he is black. A federal judge is, incredibly, still considering that motion.
Officials have confirmed that Wesley Snipes, who has an arrest warrant pending in the United States for tax evasion, is currently filming a movie in Namibia (yes, of Angelina and Brad fame). He is reportedly filming a movie in the Namib desert, though the film company would not comment.
There is no extradition treaty between the U.S. and Namibia, which means that Namibian officials have no duty to have Snipes removed and returned to the U.S. to face charges. The lack of a treaty became international news when in August, Jacob Alexander was arrested in Namibia by Interpol and Namibian police after it was discovered that he was living there. Alexander was, at the time, wanted in the U.S. for a host of charges ranging from securities fraud to money laundering to mail fraud related to backdating stock options as the CEO of Comverse Technology, Inc.
Refunds that Snipes reportedly received illegally as a result of fraudulent individual tax filings with the IRS total over 12 million US dollars, or approximately 91.2 million Namibian dollars.
