Those federal blood-suckers took down Blade!

[Northern_Piper]

Snipes jailed three years for tax evasion.

[Siam_Sam]

I guess that’s the price you pay for being a wanker.

[friedo]

@Siam Sam

I guess that’s the price you pay for being a wanker.

Seems fair – one year for every Blade movie. I hope he can get time-off credit for Passenger 57, though. That was badass.

[mks57]

I’ve never understood why people think that they can blatantly screw around with the IRS and get away with it, at least where real money is involved.

[Paul_in_Qatar]

Is he going to actually serve time? Does the Celebrity Exemption apply? Maybe that is only in California law.

[Siam_Sam]

@Paul in Saudi

Is he going to actually serve time? Does the Celebrity Exemption apply? Maybe that is only in California law.

I think that applies only if you’re white and can give good head.

[Paul_in_Qatar]

@Siam Sam

I think that applies only if you’re white and can give good head.

Not true. Look at The Juice, he took advantage of the Celebrity Exception.

[Siam_Sam]

@Paul in Saudi

Not true. Look at The Juice, he took advantage of the Celebrity Exception.

I guess I’ve been away a long time. I don’t know any Juice.

[Siam_Sam]

Okay, just wigged that it’s OJ Simpson. But he was not convicted of murder. I’ll bet he does time if convicted of this latest tussle of his in Las Vegas. (That’s still pending, yes?) Paris Hilton was convicted for her offense but served only a token amount of time.

[Northern_Piper]

An update: the federal blood-suckers win!

Appeals court upholds Wesley Snipes’ sentence.

@CNN

A federal appeals court has denied actor Wesley Snipes’ claim that his three-year prison sentence for tax evasion was “unreasonable.”

A panel of judges in the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals upheld Snipes’ 2008 sentencing on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file tax returns.

“The district court acted well within its considerable discretion in sentencing Snipes to thirty-six months in prison,” the judges said.

Snipes had argued that the only reasonable sentence would have been a period of probation.

Snipes had been granted bond while he appealed his conviction on federal tax charges. It was unclear when he would be required to report to prison.

[digs]

@Northern_Piper

An update: the federal blood-suckers win!

Wow. That is harsh. Don’t mess with the IRS!

According to a friend who installed a security system for the guy, he owns a house near here (in Wisconsin, believe it or not). Bet you could buy it soon…

[Miller]

@Siam_Sam

I guess that’s the price you pay for being a wanker.

Yep. Even if you’re just a daywanker.

[Little_Nemo]

I thought this update was going to be about this week’s episode of American Dad. Stan went to prison and Snipes was one of his cellmates.

[GHO57]

Isn’t that how Blade 3 starts… Blade in jail due to federal bloodsuckers’ plotting?

[Mahaloth]

@GHO57

Isn’t that how Blade 3 starts… Blade in jail due to federal bloodsuckers’ plotting?

Blade 3 was so bad I with he’d been jailed before making that one.

I wonder when he’ll have to go to prison. Will he really serve 3 years?

[Northern_Piper]

Perhaps one of our US law-Dopers will assist, but I believe I’ve seen news articles commenting that there’s no parole in the federal corrections system. If that’s the case, it looks like he’ll serve three years.

[billfish678]

I wonder if he will just have to bide his time or will they put him in cyrogenic suspension and program his brain so that he can knit well?

[UltraVires]

Three misdemeanor convictions and a three year prison sentence? It looks like he got the max allowable under law. I thought that judges were supposed to follow sentencing guidelines.

[billfish678]

@jtgain

Three misdemeanor convictions and a three year prison sentence? It looks like he got the max allowable under law. I thought that judges were supposed to follow sentencing guidelines.

I was kind of wondering that too.

I can see two extremes. He just didnt bother to pay taxes or paid them wrong. The IRS catches his ass and he says “my bad, I’m an idiot, what do I owe, what are the penalties, here is the check”.

Other extreme. Obvious active attempt to avoid paying taxes. Gets caught and fights it the whole way with lawyers.

If its the first one, 3 years in jail seems a bit much. Just fine the shit out of the stupid dude and move on.

Now, if its the second, fine the shit out of the dude AND send him up the river for 3years.

[Northern_Piper]

@billfish678

I was kind of wondering that too.

I can see two extremes. He just didnt bother to pay taxes or paid them wrong. The IRS catches his ass and he says “my bad, I’m an idiot, what do I owe, what are the penalties, here is the check”.

Other extreme. Obvious active attempt to avoid paying taxes. Gets caught and fights it the whole way with lawyers.

If its the first one, 3 years in jail seems a bit much. Just fine the shit out of the stupid dude and move on.

Now, if its the second, fine the shit out of the dude AND send him up the river for 3years.

It’s the second. His argument was that the federal income tax law didn’t apply to him. See the wiki article:

The government alleged that Snipes attempted to obtain fraudulent tax refunds using a tax protester theory called the “861 argument” (essentially, an argument that the domestic income of U.S. citizens and residents is not taxable). The indictment said Snipes used accountants who already had a history of filing false returns to obtain refund payments for their clients.[14] The government also charged that Snipes sent three worthless, fictitious “bills of exchange” to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the amounts of $1,000,000 (on November 30, 2000), $12,000,000 (January 18, 2001), and $1,000,000 (September 10, 2002), with each accompanied by an IRS tax payment voucher coupon.[15]

…

In a December 4, 2006 letter from Snipes in response to his indictment, he declared himself “a non-resident alien” of the United States (in reality Snipes is a US born citizen).[18] Snipes said he was being made an example of and unfairly targeted by prosecutors because of his fame in connection with the federal tax fraud investigation.