Snipes Acquitted!!!!

[Bud Dickman]

AP News Alert

7 minutes ago

OCALA, Fla. (AP) — A jury has acquitted action star Wesley Snipes of federal tax-fraud and conspiracy charges, but convicted him of failing to file tax returns.

[Dr. Caligari]

...and convicted!!

[grammarian44]

There's only one possible explanation for the result: Jesus never said anything about willful failure to file.

[Bud Dickman]

Dr. Caligari
..and convicted!!
________________


of three misdemeanor tax charges.

[Imalawman]

Is this really a horrible result? I think it will show that you do in fact have to file a return and that taxes aren't voluntary while also not heavily penalizing someone who was conned into this crap. This also convicts the true culprits of this whole mess and for that I am glad. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age....but its not really anything less than I thought would happen.

[ga1150]

I think it will show that you do in fact have to file a return.

No more than a "willful failure to file" acquittal shows that you don't have to file a return.

Can't have it both ways...well, except of course in Quatloosia.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Is this really a horrible result? I think it will show that you do in fact have to file a return and that taxes aren't voluntary while also not heavily penalizing someone who was conned into this crap. This also convicts the true culprits of this whole mess and for that I am glad. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age....but its not really anything less than I thought would happen.

Three counts of tax evasion. Well...okay.

I'm a little dissapointed that the jury bought the argument that Snipes was "just asking questions" (clearly, he wasn't). But, that's the jury's finding and I'll abide by it.

It wasn't a total acquital, not like Cryer.

I am glad that Kahn and Rosiles got the book thrown at them. Here's hoping they get thrown under the prison.

Cheers!

[LPC]

Is this really a horrible result? I think it will show that you do in fact have to file a return and that taxes aren't voluntary while also not heavily penalizing someone who was conned into this crap. This also convicts the true culprits of this whole mess and for that I am glad. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age....but its not really anything less than I thought would happen.

It's sounds like a good result to me.

Snipes might spend a few months in prison, but he'll be able to get on with his life, hopefully somewhat smarter.

But I'm disappointed that Kahn and Rosile are walking (or are they)?

[The Operative]

I think it will show that you do in fact have to file a return.

No more than a "willful failure to file" acquittal shows that you don't have to file a return.

Can't have it both ways...well, except of course in Quatloosia.

Except, of course, the law states that people who make over certain amounts must file a return.

An acquittal doesn't mean there isn't a law, but in order to be convicted of breaking a law, there had to be a law to be broken.

[Doktor Avalanche]

Is this really a horrible result? I think it will show that you do in fact have to file a return and that taxes aren't voluntary while also not heavily penalizing someone who was conned into this crap. This also convicts the true culprits of this whole mess and for that I am glad. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age....but its not really anything less than I thought would happen.

It's sounds like a good result to me.

Snipes might spend a few months in prison, but he'll be able to get on with his life, hopefully somewhat smarter.

But I'm disappointed that Kahn and Rosile are walking (or are they)?

No, they're not. They got nailed on the conspiracy and fraud charges.

[Bud Dickman]

Two co-defendants — Eddie Ray Kahn, a promoter of tax denial, and Douglas Rosile, a disbarred accountant — were convicted on separate felony counts.

“The verdict shows that promoters face serious jail time” but clients who follow their advice will face a lesser but still-serious risk, said JJ MacNab, a Maryland insurance analyst who attended the trial and is writing a book about tax deniers.

from NY Times

[Famspear]

From the Associated Press, by way of CNN:

Snipes acquitted of tax fraud, conspiracy

[1 Feb. 2008]

OCALA, Florida (AP) -- A jury in Florida has acquitted actor Wesley Snipes of federal tax-fraud and conspiracy charges, but convicted him of failing to file tax returns.

Snipes could now be sentenced to as much as three years in prison. He originally faced a possible 16 years.

Snipes and two co-defendants -- a former accountant and a tax protest leader -- were indicted in 2006. His co-defendants were convicted by the same jury of tax fraud and conspiracy.

The actor also faced six other charges for failing to file tax returns from 1999 to 2004.

The Internal Revenue Service alleges that Wesley Snipes, Eddie Ray Kahn and Douglas P. Rosile engaged them in a long fight insisting Snipes didn't owe any taxes.

Snipes' lawyers say the action star was a victim of bad financial advice, and truly believed he didn't have to pay the government anything. Watch Jami Floyd's take on the case »

Kahn is the alleged ringleader of a central Florida tax protest group called American Rights Litigators, then Guiding Light of God Ministries.

Kahn, a former CPA who lost licenses to practice in Florida and Ohio, allegedly drew up Snipes' fraudulent refund claims.

Prosecutors argue Snipes was trying to avoid increasing tax bills from his rising star power.

see

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/01/sni ... index.html

[Quixote]

I think it will show that you do in fact have to file a return.

No more than a "willful failure to file" acquittal shows that you don't have to file a return.

Can't have it both ways...well, except of course in Quatloosia.

Ah, tax denier logic. "A implies B, therefore not-A must imply not-B." "All men are mortal, therefore all women are immortal."

[Joey Smith]

That is about right, and follows our discussion in the earlier thread that the TPs -- as opposed to the promoters -- should get no or little jail time, but have to pay their back taxes, interest, penalties, fines, etc.

[Doktor Avalanche]

In short, the jury said Snipes was stupid, a stooge and a total tool who should have known better than to not file tax returns, but Kahn and Rosile were lyin' theivin' farts who need to be whupped upside the head with a Gideon's Bible, repeatedly and hard.

And of course Snipes is still on the hook for a really big tax bill.

If I were to bet, I would bet Snipes gets the absolute minimum possible, while Kahn and Rosile will be at or near the maximum sentence time.

Snipes - Club Fed
Kahn & Rosile - BOP medium security in South Bumf*ck, Alabama

I have the perfect Bible for the job. It was a gift from my mother on my first day of Catholic school.

This tome is garunteed to stop bullets and render friend, foe and tax protestor promoters unconscious alike.

[AFTP]

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/200 ... htm?csp=34

By Travis Reed, Associated Press
OCALA, Fla. — Action star Wesley Snipes was found not guilty of federal tax-fraud and conspiracy charges Friday, but was convicted on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return.

Snipes and two co-defendants, a delicensed accountant and a tax protest leader, were indicted in 2006. Snipes faced six additional counts of willful failure to file a tax return from 1999-2004, a period in which he signed two contracts for more than $10 million on sequels in the "Blade" trilogy. He was acquitted on three of those and convicted on the others. He could be sentenced to three years in prison after originally facing a possible 16 years.

Co-defendants Eddie Ray Kahn, the founder of a tax protest group, and Douglas P. Rosile, a delicensed accountant, were convicted by the same jury of tax fraud and conspiracy.

Snipes, who starred in the Blade films and White Men Can't Jump, is among the most famous targets of an IRS criminal investigation, and his prosecution was key for the government. The actor used tax protest arguments long rejected by courts but still continuing to find adherents.

For example, Snipes said the IRS's own code meant no citizen had to pay taxes on income earned in this country, and the agency had no legal authority to collect wages anyway, because it is not a proper government entity.

[AFTP]

Another article of some length.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/busin ... f=business

[webhick]

Props to the jury for convicting Snipes on the "willful failure to file," acquitting on the conspiracy (which seemed a bit vague to me, since he really wasn't a promoter but pushed it as well), and nailing the other bastards to the wall.

[ga1150]

"An acquittal doesn't mean there isn't a law, but in order to be convicted of breaking a law, there had to be a law to be broken."

How sophomoric. We've just recently in Georgia had someone cleared after 30 years or so by DNA evidence, and released.

They were convicted...so there 'had to be a law broken"? Are you sure that you want to be in print saying that?

[Doktor Avalanche]

"An acquittal doesn't mean there isn't a law, but in order to be convicted of breaking a law, there had to be a law to be broken."

How sophomoric. We've just recently in Georgia had someone cleared after 30 years or so by DNA evidence, and released.

They were convicted...so there 'had to be a law broken"? Are you sure that you want to be in print saying that?

And what DNA test establishes that you don't have to pay taxes?