Posted on 10/20/2006 12:15:07 PM PDT by freepatriot32
Call off the manhunt, we have a Wesley Snipes spotting. A Namibian film official has announced that the actor, currently wanted on charges of tax fraud in the U.S., has been in the African country for the past two months shooting a movie. "It is confirmed," Edwin Kanguatjivi, chief executive officer of the Namibia Film Commission, told Reuters. "He has been in Namibia since the end of August."
According to the wire service, Snipes has been filming Gallowwalker in the desert near Swakopmund, the same coastal town that was home to a prenatal Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in the run-up to their daughter Shiloh's birth last spring. The Blade badass was indicted on eight counts of tax fraud in Florida earlier this week for allegedly failing to file tax returns for six years and for seeking $12 million in fraudulent refunds from the federal government.
If convicted, Snipes could face up to 16 years in prison—hardly an incentive to rush back to the States. And as luck would have it for the on-the-lam star, Namibia does not have an extradition treaty with the U.S. and, accordingly, is not expected to take any action to send the 44-year-old actor home to be tried. The White Men Can't Jump star was indicted along with two other men, Eddie Ray Kahn, who, per the feds, "promoted and sold fraudulent tax schemes," and Douglas Rosile, an accountant who worked for Kahn.
The duo reportedly told Snipes that thanks to a loophole in the tax code, something Kahn deemed the "861 Argument," the actor would only be responsible for paying taxes on wages he earned outside the U.S. Needless to say, the loophole does not exist. Based on the fraudulent—and potentially costly—logic, Snipes opted not to file tax returns from 1999 to 2004, during which he did not make any money from foreign sources, and also sought a $12 million refund on taxes he previously paid.
Federal officials issued an arrest warrant for the actor last week after being unable to locate him. According to the indictment, prosecutors attempted to contact Snipes over the course of several years to straighten out his legal mess, only to receive phony documentation from his accountants.
Should Snipes, who has a well-documented aversion to any kind of tax, be it income or property, decide to return to the States and surrender, he'd be the second of the indicted threesome to be taken into custody. Rosile, who filed the phony tax forms on behalf of the actor, has already turned himself in. Kahn, meanwhile, has reportedly hightailed it to Panama.
Were they out looking with paper bags to catch him?
Darn! I haven't been snipe hunting in years!
Clearly, this is an all-points bulletin for any and all jokes having to do with snipe hunting.
He is one helluva vampire slayer. I think Blair could take him though, she's one bad vampire killer.
You done it now, Wesley! If you'd have murdered a bunch of nuns or something the feds wouldn't put as much effort into tracking you down as they will for not paying The Man!
And I guess Wesley can't dodge...
Next we'll find out that the financial backers for the movie are those African-Nationalist UFO alien NUwaubian cult leaders who share adjoining property to Snipes in Georgia.
I suggest that Mr. Snipes make sure his Namibian taxes are fully paid up.
Does anybody seriously think he'll come back to the U.S.? He knows of he does he's screwed.
The American Express Card. Don't steal home without it...
And if you can't audit,
you must aquit.
After spending enough time in third world country as an exile.....even a US jail cell may look appealing
Willie Nelson will bring Snipes back from Africa. Then celebrate with IRS agents with whiskey for his men and beer for his horses.
Taxes are theft, I applaud anyone trying to avoid getting their property stolen.
This will probably be the last time he lets MC Hammer do his taxes for him :)
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