Snipes Appeals Overly Taxing Prison Sentence
Johnny Nunez/Getty Images
Not paying your taxes for five years? Understandable. Going to prison for three years as a result? Totally unreasonable. At least according to Wesley Snipes' crack (but not that crack) defense team.
Attorneys for the Uncle Sam-dodging Blade star have filed an appeal against the actor's would-be imprisonment, calling the sentence "unreasonable" and claiming that his tax-evasion trial—which came to a close last February after Snipes was convicted on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a return—should have taken place in New York and not Florida.
Nevermind that the 47-year-old actor's housing records showed that he lived in both states or that his legal team had ample time prior to the years-in-the-making trial to seek the location swap.
Update
Joe Francis Made How Much for Ogling Boobs?!
Omar Acevedo/BuzzFoto/Getty Images
UPDATE: Francis filed court documents Friday in a bid to have his accounts unfrozen, stating that the IRS "failed to follow statutory procedures, thus the levy is invalid."
The IRS should have given him notice and requested payment before seizing his money, the filing states.
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Think how much Joe Francis had to make to owe nearly $34 million in taxes for three years.
We thought the Girls Gone Wild founder's trouble with the IRS was over—but everyone's favorite government agency is after Francis again, saying he didn't pay federal income taxes in 2001, 2002 and 2003.
According to a tax lien filed today and obtained by TMZ...we're all in the wrong business.
Francis supposedly failed to fork over $17.7 million in 2001, $11.2 million in 2002 and $4.9 million in 2003. He tells TMZ that the feds have frozen his various accounts amounting to more than $100 million and that he's planning to file for personal bankruptcy tomorrow.
Barely two weeks ago, a judge approved a plea deal that allowed Francis to plead guilty to two counts of filing false tax returns over for engaging in some shady activity with his business revenue in 2002 and 2003, as well as one count of bribing Nevada jail workers.
He was sentenced to time served and a year of probation.
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It's cold outside, but it's not too late to appreciate our Hot Bods gallery. Joe Francis would.
Uncle Sam Really Gives Aaron Carter Something to Cry About
ABC/Adam Larkey
First Hélio Castroneves, now Aaron Carter. Dancing With the Stars has a curse, all right, but it has nothing to do with injuries.
Unless you count the damage done to one's bank account. And permanent record.
Just a week getting booted from the reality-competition show, Carter is on the receiving end of considerably worse news, this time courtesy of the IRS. Turns out, Nick's little bro owes Uncle Sam more than $1 million in back taxes.
Just think of all the Kleenex that could buy.
As it is, according to court documents filed last week, Carter's tax delinquency dates back to 2003, a clearly banner time for the cry baby pop star, as he's indebted to the federal government a whopping $965,284.97 from that year alone.
An additional $45,350.11 is also owed from income earned in 2006, making his debt grand total a hefty $1,010,635.08.
We don't care who you are, that figure's gonna bring on the waterworks.
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Aaron's out of Dancing With the Stars, but these four are still in...at least for the next few hours.
Nicolas Cage Has Mo' Money Problems—6 Million of 'Em
VINCE VALITUTTI/Summit Entertainment
National treasure? More like national liability.
Just a week after word broke that Nicolas Cage has defaulted on a $2 million loan comes news that Uncle Sam is now among those bringing the hammer down on the, last we checked, rather prolific actor.
Over the summer, the IRS quietly placed a tax lien of nearly $6.26 million on Cage's New Orleans properties after the actor flat-out failed to pay income taxes in 2007 (the same year, incidentally, that he raked in some serious back-end profits from Ghost Rider and National Treasure: Book of Secrets).
As if that weren't bad enough, the IRS obtained a second lien over yet more unpaid taxes, this time for income earned between 2002 and 2004. That lien, as the New Orleans Times-Picayune first reported back in August, was for an additional $360,545.84.
Not surprisingly, Cage put two of his properties on the market this spring and was forced to sell off one of his many castles. The recession hits hard, folks. Still, where's Jerry Bruckheimer when you really need him?
Maybe Wesley Snipes could have a word, one cash-strapped action star to another?
—Additional reporting by Whitney English
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Catch up on Nicolas Cage's money woes.
Method Man Pinched for Tax Toke
Johnny Nunez/Getty Images
Feud alert! Method Man and Uncle Sam just don't see eye to eye.
The Grammy-winning rapper and former Wu-Tang Clan man was arrested today on felony charges of skipping out on $32,799 in taxes from 2004 to 2007. The star, also known as 38-year-old Clifford Smith, was immediately arraigned and released on his own recognizance.
Let's not forget that this isn't his first time in hot water for not forking over the funds.
In 2008, his Lincoln Navigator was repossessed for owing the government. His explanation for this occurrence, however, was a bit hazy (and you should take that literally).
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