Wesley Snipes Sentenced to 3 Years in Jail

Written by Leah

A Florida judge sentenced the “Blade” movie star to three years in jail today. Snipes was convicted of tax fraud in February for not filing his income taxes for at least three years.

Snipes withheld tax returns based on his belief that the Internal Revenue Service is not a properly established government agency. According to the memo filed today, Snipes also contended that he did not file business returns because he “was personally not subject to taxation because he was a ‘stateless person’ or ‘nonresident alien,’” or a “‘nontaxpayer,’” which prosecutors flatly rejected. (Source: ABC News)

Wesley Snipes is, in fact, a US citizen. The jury found him guilty of not filing taxes in the years 1999, 2000 & 2001, along with other tax-related offenses.

Why does it seem like famous movie stars are so often in trouble with the law? Celebrities have grown a reputation for both “behaving badly” and suffering health and emotional problems. (You and probably think of some recent examples. It seems natural to think with an increase in fame and fortune that we’d see a proportionate increase in happiness, but that doesn’t seem to often be the case.

Do you think celebrities are often held to a different standard than non-famous people? Does the law sometimes let them off the hook or give more lenient sentences merely because they’re famous? How do you feel about celebrities “behaving badly”?