Wesley Snipes

Snipes was born in Orlando, Florida, the son of Marian (née Long), a teacher's assistant, and Wesley Rudolph Snipes, an aircraft engineer.[5][6] He grew up in the Bronx, New York. He attended the High School of Performing Arts of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts but moved back to Florida before he could graduate. After graduating from Jones High School in Orlando, Snipes returned to New York and attended the State University of New York at Purchase. He also attended Southwest College in Los Angeles, California.

Snipes with wife Nikki Park in 2009

Snipes began training in martial arts when he was 12 years old. He has a 5th degree black belt in Shotokan karate and a 2nd degree black belt in Hapkido. He has also trained in Capoeira[4] under Mestre Jelon Vieira and in a number of other disciplines including kung fu at the USA Shaolin Temple[19] and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu[4] and Kickboxing.[20] During his time in New York, Snipes was trained in fighting by his friend and mentor Brooke Ellis.[21]

Snipes has been married twice, first to April Snipes (née Dubois), with whom he has a son Jelani, who had a cameo role in Snipes' 1990 film Mo' Better Blues. In 2003, Snipes married painter Nakyung "Nikki" Park, with whom he has four children.[22]

Snipes, who was raised a Christian, converted to Islam in 1978 but left Islam in 1988. During a 1991 interview, Snipes said "Islam made me more conscious of what African people have accomplished, of my self-worth, and gave me some self-dignity".[23]

Snipes' apartment in New York City was destroyed by the collapse of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers during the September 11 attacks. He was on the West Coast at the time.[21]

Snipes has a half brother A.D. Snipes, who is also an entertainer, a comedian residing in San Antonio, TX. The younger Snipes has appeared in the TNT Classics Rough Riders and Buffalo Soldiers, and has appeared on BET's Comicview and HBO's Def Comedy Jam.

On October 12, 2006, Snipes, Eddie Ray Kahn, and Douglas P. Rosile were charged with one count of conspiring to defraud the United States and one count of knowingly making or aiding and abetting the making of a false and fraudulent claim for payment against the United States. Snipes was also charged with six counts of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns by their filing dates.[24] The conspiracy charge against Snipes alleged that he filed a false amended return, including a false tax refund claim of over $4 million for the year 1996, and a false amended return, including a false tax refund claim of over US$7.3 million for the year 1997. The government alleged that Snipes attempted to obtain fraudulent tax refunds using a tax protester theory called the "861 argument" (essentially, an argument that the domestic income of U.S. citizens and residents is not taxable). The government also charged that Snipes sent three worthless, fictitious "bills of exchange" for $14 million to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).[25]

The government also charged that Snipes failed to file tax returns for the years 1999 through 2004. Snipes responded to his indictment in a letter on December 4, 2006, declaring himself to be "a non-resident alien" of the United States; in reality, Snipes is a birthright U.S. citizen.[26] Such tactics are common of the "Freemen", "Sovereign Citizen", or "OPCA" (Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument) category of litigation strategy.[27]

Snipes retained Robert Barnes as his defense attorney.[28] On February 1, 2008, Snipes was acquitted on the felony count of conspiracy to defraud the government and on the felony count of filing a false claim with the government. He was found guilty on three misdemeanor counts of failing to file federal income tax returns (and acquitted on three other "failure to file" charges). His co-defendants, Douglas P. Rosile and Eddie Ray Kahn, were convicted on the conspiracy and false claim charges in connection with the income tax refund claims filed for Snipes.[29][30]

On April 24, 2008, Snipes was sentenced to three years in prison for willful failure to file federal income tax returns under 26 U.S.C. § 7203.[31][32][33] Kahn was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Rosile was sentenced to four and one half years in prison.[34] The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed Snipes's convictions in a 35-page decision issued on July 16, 2010.[35][36][37] Snipes reported to federal prison on December 9, 2010 to begin his three-year sentence,[38] and was held at McKean Federal Correctional Institution, a federal prison in Pennsylvania.[39][40][41] On June 6, 2011, the United States Supreme Court declined to hear Snipes's appeal.[42][43][44] Snipes was released from federal prison on April 2, 2013,[45] finishing his period of house arrest on July 19, 2013.[45][46]

On November 1, 2018, the United States Tax Court ruled that the Internal Revenue Service did not abuse its discretion in rejecting an offer in compromise made by Snipes and in sustaining the filing of a notice of federal tax lien in connection with approximately $23.5 million in Federal tax liabilities for tax year 2001 and years 2003 through 2006.[47]

• Talon of God (co-written with Ray Norman) (July 25, 2017)[48]

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• Wesley Snipes at IMDb
• Wesley Snipes at the Internet Broadway Database