A Little Compassion, People

I don't know the full details of the case, but I see an awful lot of people jumping on the dumping Wesley Snipes bandwagon. For those of you not in the Hollywood know, Wesley Snipes has been sentenced to three years in a Federal Prison for not paying his taxes. Around the web, I hear that he is going to a Club med, that he got off easy and that he should have been convicted of a felony. All I can say, is that when looking at the details, it seems rather complicated to me.

According to the things I have been reading, Snipes may have become involved with some very slick scam lawyers who go around cheating the rich and famous by claiming they know legal tax loopholes. (I seriously doubt Snipes files his own tax returns or handles those financial.)

FOX news says "Snipes read aloud from a prepared apology, calling his actions "costly mistakes" but never mentioning the word "taxes." He said he was the victim of crooked advisers, a liability of wealth and celebrity that attract "wolves and jackals like flies are attracted to meat."

Snipes was convicted of only misdemeanors by a JURY while Kahn and Roslie, the two men that led him to his actions received the felony convictions. Of them, Fox news notes, "Kahn was the founder of American Rights Litigators, and a successor group, Guiding Light of God Ministries, that purported to help members legally avoid paying taxes. Snipes was a dues-paying member of the organization, and Rosile, a de-licensed accountant, prepared Snipes' paperwork."

Snipes brought three checks that equaled 5 million dollars as a down payment for his back taxes. Fox reports that to be roughly 1/3 of what is owed (with penalties.) The government claims Snipes was trying to defraud them of $41million.

(Photo from LATimes)

The judge gave Snipes the MAXIMUM sentence for the misdemeanors. U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges said Snipes exhibited a "history of contempt over a period of time," notes CBS news.

Seems like there are a variety of ways to view this situation to me.