Wesley Snipes has even more to say about his tax evasion charges.
So far, he’s made claims that he is being unfairly targeted because he’s black; he can’t get a fair trial in Ocala, Florida because it is a “hotbed” of KKK activity; his attorney was unfit for trial; and has compared himself to a rape victim.
Despite his whining, he will still face trial on eight counts of tax fraud in a federal courthouse next month. He is charged with attempting to defraud the IRS of more than $11 million in bogus refund claims for the tax years 1996 and 1997, and for failing to file returns for the years 1999 to 2004.
He initially refused to return to the US to face the charges because he was “busy” filming a movie in Namibia. He now laughs at allegations that he was avoiding arrest, telling Entertainment Weekly that “[t]hey positioned it like, ‘He’s irresponsible, dangerous, guilty — this is why he’s in Africa.'” Snipes claims that he did not avoid the indictment but rather, through his attorneys, he had immediately responded to the IRS.
Snipes admits that he did request refunds totaling $11.4 million for 1996 and 1997 taxes he paid, he never did so with the intent to defraud the IRS. Instead, he claims he was merely following the counsel of his advisers. He also agrees that it sounded too good to be true, saying, “Hell yeah, it sounded too good to be true!”
Despite all of this, Snipes says that he isn’t guilty because he says that the IRS didn’t actually give him any money, saying “I didn’t defraud the government by taking money that was not mine. We never got it!” Hmm. There’s some good lawyering. That’s kind of like saying, well yes, I did walk into the bank and try to rob it but they didn’t give me any money – so I didn’t really commit a crime, right? Wrong.
Still, Snipes claims that he is being targeted by the government as an example. He says, “Oh, it ain’t about the money. What is the benefit of making such pomp and circumstance about this case? The amazing revelation in all of this is, I never thought I was that important.” Perhaps he should think again.
