Actor Wesley Snipes has been given a three year prison sentence for tax evasion. In February the Blade actor was convicted of failing to file his taxes for five years and the court found he owed millions in back taxes. Best guess: he'll serve about 18 months in jail.
Earlier this week, Snipes' actor friends Woody Harrelson and Denzel Washington sent letters to the judge as character references.
The court heard from prosecutors that Snipes dodged $15 million (£7.5 million) in tax through a campaign in which he concealed millions offshore, falsely applied for tax refunds and bombarded the Internal Revenue Service with frivolous correspondence that threatened government employees, railed about extortion and used odd legal interpretations to back his claim that US income taxation was unlawful.
The actor's attorneys argued that Snipes' crimes did not warrant a prison sentence and that the star should be given probation.
Details of when Snipes, 45, will have to surrender to prison, and where he will serve his sentence have not been released.
