Wesley Snipes Breaks Silence On "Systematic Racism" And IRS Fraud Charges
Entertainment Weekly:
Snipes maintains that when he first learned of the indictment, he and his attorneys immediately contacted the IRS and began negotiating his return to the States to turn himself in. But because his agreement with the IRS allowed him to delay his surrender in order to accommodate Gallowwalker's shooting schedule, it appeared as though he was stalling for time -- that he was guilty. In December, Snipes chartered a private jet, flew from Namibia to Orlando, and turned himself in to the U.S. Marshals -- ironically, the very same agency that he'd once observed and gotten to know while making 1998's U.S. Marshals, the sequel to The Fugitive.
Snipes flatly denies all of the government's charges against him and insists that he filed returns for all of the years in question. And while he admits that yes, with the assistance of Kahn and Rosile, 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. ''The accountants say you're entitled to a refund because of these particular rules and regulations,'' he says. ''So you say all right.... If someone tells me I'm entitled to a refund, I'll go for the refund!''
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First Posted: 12-15-07 09:44 AM | Updated: 03-28-08 02:45 AM