⚖️ Wesley Snipes sentenced to 3 years for not filing tax returns

A federal jury in Ocala, Florida, convicted Wesley Snipes on Feb. 1, 2008 of three misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The same jury acquitted him of conspiracy and of filing a false claim, AP reported. On April 24, 2008, Senior U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges gave him three years, the maximum available.

What the Internal Revenue Service said he owed

The Eleventh Circuit, a federal appeals court, laid out the record in its July 16, 2010 opinion. Snipes had filed returns for 1993 through 1998, an IRS witness testified at trial. He filed none for 1999 through 2004, a period in which the court says he earned more than $37 million in gross income.

The court says the criminal investigation began after the agency received an altered Form 1040X in April 2001 demanding a refund of over $7 million for 1997. At sentencing, prosecutors said his tax debt for 1999 through 2004 would "conservatively" exceed $20 million, the Orlando Sentinel reported. The paper said the final bill, with penalties and interest, could total $20 million.

His account

Snipes' lawyers argued he was a victim of bad financial advice who truly believed he owed nothing, AP reported. In a December 2010 interview on CNN's Larry King Live, Snipes said: "I was never charged with tax evasion. I've never been a tax protester." Prosecutors, CNN reported, said he had been involved in a tax resisters group. Snipes disputed that and blamed his advisers.

Juror Frank Tuttle gave Larry King Live a written statement saying the verdict was a compromise between jurors who thought Snipes guilty and those who did not. Snipes' attorney Daniel Meachum said the defense had no part in preparing that statement, CNN reported.

Sentencing day

Snipes apologized in court. "I am very sorry for my mistakes or my errors," he said, per WESH. The judge noted that Snipes "never mentioned the words tax or taxes in his apology." The Orlando Sentinel reported that the omission drew criticism from prosecutors as well.

"There's nothing unusual about prosecuting a celebrity,"

Judge William Hodges, in court on April 24, 2008, as reported by WESH

Defense lawyers handed over three checks totaling $5 million in restitution, a portion of the debt, WESH reported. Assistant U.S. Attorney M. Scotland Morris called the gesture grandstanding and said, "It'll be a fraction of what he owes." Mr Scandal notes that the judge still imposed three consecutive one-year terms, per AP.

A $5 million cheque, presented after the sentence was read, is a very specific kind of timing.

Appeals, prison and the back taxes

The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the convictions in all respects on July 16, 2010. Snipes reported to the McKean federal prison in Pennsylvania on Dec. 9, 2010, CNN reported. The Supreme Court declined to hear his appeal over trial venue on June 6, 2011, in an order that came without comment, per CNN.

TMZ reported, citing the Federal Bureau of Prisons, that he was released on April 2, 2013 and moved to home confinement ending July 19. On the money, AP reported prosecutors said he owed $2.7 million on $13.8 million of income from 1999 to 2001 alone. Snipes told CNN he believed he was "fully compliant with what was owed" and has claimed he paid his back taxes. No settlement or final payment figure appears in the documents read.