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Actor Wesley Snipes facing conspiracy, tax fraud charges
More articles on this topic: Guiding Light of God MinistriesWASHINGTON — Wesley Snipes, whose flash-and-dash style of acting carried him from the streets of the south Bronx to movie stardom, has been indicted on charges of conspiracy and tax fraud, federal officials announced Tuesday.
Snipes, 44, was also charged with six counts of failing to file income tax returns. If convicted of all of the charges, he could be sentenced to as much as 16 years in prison.
Snipes’ whereabouts could not be determined, said Steve Cole, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Middle District of Florida.
“We made an attempt to contact him through his attorneys and now with the news conference,” Cole said in a telephone interview. “Maybe he’ll find out from the media and turn himself in.” The indictment is the latest reversal for Snipes, whose diverse career starring in action, comedic and dramatic roles dazzled fans for more than 20 years.
From his success in the 1986 football film Wildcats to a role as a drug lord in New Jack City to that of a sports hustler in White Men Can’t Jump to his superhero turn in the Blade movies, Snipes has been a stellar fixture on the screen.
But Snipes’ off-screen personal and financial difficulties have mounted in recent years. His Florida mansion was in foreclosure, his former agency sued to collect an overdue debt and an admitted former crack addict took him to court in a paternity case that the star eventually won after reams of bad publicity.
Tuesday’s indictment accuses Snipes, formerly of Windermere, Fla.; Eddie Ray Kahn of Sorrento, Fla.; and Douglas Rosile of Venice, Fla., with conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and presenting a fraudulent claim for payment to the IRS.
According to the indictment, released by the Justice Department, Kahn founded and led American Rights Litigators and its successor, Guiding Light of God Ministries. The businesses sold fraudulent tax schemes, authorities said in a statement.
Rosile was identified as a former accountant who kept working after his CPA licenses were revoked in Ohio and Florida. He is accused of preparing fraudulent tax returns for American Rights, which charged its members a fee, half of which allegedly went to Rosile. Also, ARL collected 20 percent of any refund; half of that went to Rosile.
Snipes, Kahn and Rosile are accused of making it appear that Snipes had no liability for federal income taxes.
According to authorities, the claim is known as an 861 argument, which says U.S. citizens and residents can be taxed only on income derived from certain foreign-based activities and not on income earned within the United States — a position that the courts have rejected.
The defendants filed two amended federal income tax returns for Snipes, claiming almost $12 million in refunds from 1996 and 1997 income taxes. The indictment also accuses Snipes of failing to file his federal income tax returns from 1999 through 2004.
“Our system of government depends on citizens paying their fair share of taxes,” U.S. Attorney Paul Perez of the Middle District of Florida said in a statement. “Those who intentionally and unlawfully harass the IRS through deceit, trickery and fraud undermine the collection of revenue that is vital to every aspect of the operation of our government.”
Cole said the indictments were handed up last week. Authorities contacted Snipes’ lawyers Friday and asked that the actor surrender for arraignment Tuesday. The lawyers said they no longer represented Snipes, Cole said.
Rosile surrendered Tuesday, and Kahn was believed to be in Panama, Cole said.
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