Wesley Snipes Tax Woes May Get Him 16 Years in Prison

I have my own personal brush with Wesley Snipes' production company story.

Back in the late 1990s, I self-published a lewd and lascivious novel. One day a truckload of brown boxes arrived, filled with copies of my masterpiece. It was time to tell the world about the book.

I used every spare cent to snail-mail hundreds of free review copies - at around $3.20-a-pop - to agents, producers, and almost every member of Oprah's staff. I gave some to the friends and family members that wouldn't disown me upon reading the first sentence.

I knew it would shock. I knew it would titillate. I knew it would land me at the top of USA Today's best-selling book list and a multimillion dollar movie deal to boot.

When Hollywood Calls
My lofty fantasies approached reality when I came home one day and replayed a message from a woman who worked closely with Wesley Snipes at Amen-Ra Films, Snipes' production company.

Never mind that Wesley Snipes' joint was named after some pagan god. Never mind the fact that I never really liked the actor anyway - especially after hearing rumors that Snipes was the abusive boyfriend who punched Halle Berry in the ear, causing her permanent hearing loss - we were talking Blade trilogy duckets!

"We loved your book," said the woman when I called Wesley's office back. She said a bunch of folks that worked directly with Snipes went from bookstore to bookstore seeking out more copies.

"How much were you considering selling the rights for?" she asked.

"Uh..." I stammered, my brass ring almost in my grasp. "I don't know."

"Just send us more copies and we'll talk about it."

The next day, I shipped a box-load of books out to Snipes' office in California - the land where I wanted live, my own personal Mecca - and waited.

A Dream Deferred
In the meantime, not everyone was as thrilled with my new endeavor. My dad refused to read the blasphemous thing. "You put a cross on the cover!" he said.

What did I care? He'd be proud when I mounted the stage to accept the Oscar for best adaptation of my own work. Then the woman from Amen-Ra Films finally called again.

"I'm no longer with Wesley Snipes' company," she said, inferring to some kind of trouble in Wesley's la-la land but not elaborating. "But I'm still interested in buying the rights someday...when I get enough money."

My Hollywood bubble officially burst. I had sunk nearly $10,000 of my 401(k) savings and had barely sold 100 copies. Weeks passed. No one was biting. Then one night I had a dream during which Satan smiled at me, scaring me silly and driving me to toss all remaining copies in the Dumpster.

Divine Hedge of Protection
Now comes word that Snipes, 44, failed to file tax returns for six years and of Snipes' fraudulent claims for "refunds totaling nearly $12 million in 1996 and 1997 on income taxes already paid," according to the Associated Press.

"The indictment also charged him with failure to file returns between 1999 and 2004," wrote AP reporter Lara Jakes Jordan, noting that "Snipes had his taxes prepared by accountants with a history of filing false returns to reap payments for their clients."

Snipes hasn't been arrested because authorities haven't found him yet, according to the IRS. Snipes' tax preparer was sued in 2002 by the Justice Department, who said bogus tax refund claims were filed that included a $7.3 million claim for Wesley Snipes.

So now Snipes is looking at a maximum of 16 years in prison, if convicted. I hope for justice to be served and for the best outcome possible for Snipes and his family during this trying time, and most of all, I thank God for seeing the future clearly enough to steer me away from ventures that weren't in my best interest.