Snipes' team says actor did nothing illegal

By KEVIN GRAHAM, Times Staff Writer
Published January 14, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT [AP photo] Actor Wesley Snipes' tax-evasion trial starts today in Ocala. Lawyer calls Ocala racist (11/9/07)

Wesley Snipes sat at the top of the box office charts for most of the 1990s.

New Jack City. Jungle Fever. White Men Can't Jump. Passenger 57. Blade.

Dubbed one of 12 "Promising New Actors of 1990" in John Willis' Screen World, Snipes, 45, ended the decade by getting a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.

Today, the celebrity will find himself seated in a federal courtroom in Ocala. Prosecutors plan to spend the next month trying to prove that he worked with two other men to defraud the IRS of $11.4-million in tax refunds.

In a telephone interview with the St. Petersburg Times, Snipes' lawyers say he did nothing illegal, and they're ready to show it. "The truth will surprise and shock the public," says Robert Barnes, a Snipes attorney.

Why did the government charge Snipes?

Federal prosecutors charged the actor with conspiracy to defraud, making a false claim and six counts of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns. They accuse him of seeking bogus refunds in 1996 and 1997 and of filing no returns between 1999 and 2004.

Prosecutors also plan to present evidence that Snipes participated as an anti-IRS tax protester for several years.

What does Snipes have to say?

Since publicly vowing to vindicate his name shortly after the U.S. Attorney's Office announced the charges in October 2006, Snipes has been mum on the issue.

But in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, he said: "I never got a dime. I didn't defraud the government by taking money that was not mine. We never got it!"

His attorneys say the government never listened to Snipes' explanation.

"They gave him nothing," Barnes says.

"What they gave him was an indictment," says Robert Bernhoft, who is heading Snipes' defense team.

Why is the trial in Ocala?

IRS agents seized most of their evidence from a storefront office in Mount Dora, which sits in the Middle District of Florida's Ocala Division. Snipes is an Orlando native who recently lived in Windermere.

His attorneys wanted the trial moved to New York City, where Snipes currently lives. In court records, they called Ocala too racist to yield a fair jury. The judge repeatedly denied their motion for a change of venue.

"Wes has never said any negative thing about people in Ocala," Barnes says. "I, his lawyer, raised issues. The majority of people and most people in Ocala are good-hearted and fair. The Ocala media has misrepresented that into a broad-scale attack, which is completely and utterly false."

Could Snipes go to prison?

If convicted, Snipes faces up to 16 years in prison, according to federal sentencing guidelines. Exactly how much time he would serve is decided by the judge. Federal judges take into account a person's criminal history and other factors, including consulting the guidelines, before calculating prison time.

Who are the other men standing trial?

Eddie Ray Kahn operated American Rights Litigators and Guiding Light of God Ministries. A tax protest group leader, Kahn was found guilty in 1985 of failing to file income tax returns in the Northern District of Texas and sentenced to three years in prison.

Douglas Rosile is another defendant. He is an unlicensed accountant from Venice who worked as a tax preparer.

What do experts say about the case?

Brian Phillips, an Orlando lawyer and adjunct professor who teaches about tax fraud at the University of Florida's Levin College of Law, says the Department of Justice review process for criminal tax cases is "tremendous."

"It's the primary reason the DOJ wins all its tax cases," says Phillips, who is not involved in the case. "They try to weed out all the losers."

A key to the defense case will be whether Snipes intentionally tried to commit a crime, Phillips says.

"At the end of the day, you've got a movie star who has a bunch of money," he says. "There are 12 people in the jury box who all paid their taxes, or they wouldn't be sitting there."

"Everybody knows that's what's going through their head."

Times researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Kevin Graham can be reached at kgraham@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3433.

Fast facts

Key players

Wesley Snipes is charged with attempting to defraud the IRS of $11.4-million in tax refunds and failing to file tax returns from 1999 to 2004. The Blade trilogy star says he never received the money and denies doing anything illegal.

Robert Bernhoft founded his law firm in 2001 and has won federal tax conspiracy trials for other clients. Bernhoft, who will lead Snipes' defense team, also successfully defended Snipes in a paternity case. He has offices in Milwaukee and Malibu, Calif.

Robert Barnes directs the West Coast branch of Bernhoft's firm in Malibu and focuses his time on high-profile criminal tax defense.

Linda Moreno announced she was joining the Snipes defense team in December. She represented former University of South Florida professor Sami Al-Arian at his terrorism-related trial.

Robert O'Neill will head the prosecution team for the U.S. Attorney's Office. O'Neill was named interim U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida in October. He oversees the district from offices in Tampa.

Senior U.S. District Judge William Terrell Hodges was appointed to the federal bench in the Middle District of Florida in 1971. He served as chief judge for the district from 1982 to 1989.

[Last modified January 14, 2008, 06:48:09]