Snipes faces jail in $12m tax fraud case

ACTOR Wesley Snipes was indicted yesterday on eight counts of tax fraud for allegedly failing to pay nearly $12 million (€9.5m) in taxes and failing to file returns for six years.

Federal prosecutors in Tampa said Snipes fraudulently claimed refunds in 1996 and 1997 on taxes already paid, and then failed to file returns from 1999 to 2004. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 16 years in prison.

The actor, who starred in the Blade trilogy, Spike Lee’s Jungle Fever and the 1992 blockbuster White Men Can’t Jump, has not been arrested because authorities don’t know where he is, the IRS said.