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Snipes' Tax Woes: A Black and White Case?

Mon., Jun. 11, 2007 12:52 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

"Always bet on black."

That's not just Wesley Snipes' trademark quip from Passenger 57, it's his allegation against the government. The actor is asking a federal judge in Florida to toss an eight-count indictment that accuses him of tax fraud because, he insists, he was unfairly targeted because of his race.

The petition, filed June 4 in U.S. district court in Ocala and obtained by the Smoking Gun, essentially repeats statements Snipes made to the press last fall. In the court documents, his attorneys claim the 44-year-old actor is the victim of "selective prosecution" because federal prosecutors slapped him with additional tax-evasion charges while failing to do the same for his two white codefendants, Eddie Ray Kahn and Douglas Rosile, who ran American Rights Litigators, a Florida accounting firm.

"Mr. Snipes has been charged in the same indictment as defendants Rosile and Kahn, yet he is the only one of the three charged with failure to file," the petition reads. "Both defendants Rosile and Kahn are Caucasian, while Mr. Snipes is African-American."

Snipes' camp further says the government was "aware" that Kahn did not file tax returns from 1999 to 2004 and Rosile failed to do so between 2003 and 2004, yet both were never charged.

"These facts support the argument that these counts were impermissibly brought on the basis of Mr. Snipes' race," the motion continues, adding that Snipes is the only one of Kahn and Rosile's 200 clients to be prosecuted as a coconspirator. Snipes' lawyers asserts the actor received "unscrupulous tax advice" and in no way was part of any purported conspiracy.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa, Kahn and Rosile filed false tax returns to obtain massive refunds for their clients, with Kahn and Rosile pocketing upwards of 20 percent of the supposedly ill-gotten gains.

Along with the petition to dismiss, Snipes' legal team filed another motion requesting the case be moved to a federal court in New York. The actor is also said to be considering filing a civil suit against the tax preparers to "recover the losses he suffered as a result" of their bum advice.

Lawyers for Snipes were unavailable for comment Monday.

Meanwhile, Rosile's counsel, David Wilson, claims his client never gave tax advice to the erstwhile Demolition Man, let alone met him.

Last November, Snipes sent a rambling email to a columnist for the Orlando Sentinel accusing prosecutors of going after him because of his fame and the color of his skin.

"It appears I'm to be the scapegoat, because there's more public interest in 'celebrities gone bad' than 'rich people being taken advantage of,' " Snipes wrote. "Being a black male who asks questions doesn't help the situation either. But this is a serious issue, NO, a very serious issue that I am not taking lightly one bit...I'm not running, I'm not a fugitive, despite the misrepresentations in the press."

Backing up his claims of unfair treatment, the actor cited two past legal entanglements—a 2003 paternity suit filed against him in New York that was ultimately dismissed, and the loss of his $1.7 million Florida home in a separate tax-related foreclosure case.

If found guilty of the federal charges, Snipes could face up to 16 years in prison. No word yet when the judge will rule on the motions.