Celebrity Witnesses Could Appear in Wesley Snipes Trial
The defense will begin to present its case this week in the trial of actor Wesley Snipes, accused of tax fraud, conspiracy and failure to file tax returns. The witness list includes some celebrities.
On the star-studded list of potential witnesses are Sylvester Stallone, Muhammad Ali, Spike Lee and Tom Brokaw, the Ocala Star-Banner reports. They may be called to testify that the tax firm that handled Snipes’ tax returns before he fell in with tax protesters “gave bad advice to many people,” Snipes lawyer, Roberts Barnes, told the newspaper.
Snipes’ lawyers want the tax firm, Starr and Co., to release its entire file on Snipes and information about its dealings with Sylvester Stallone.
The prosecution rested last week after testimony from an IRS agent who said Snipes earned almost $38 million from 1999 to 2004, when he failed to file tax returns.
Snipes is signing autographs and posing for pictures with the many fans who gather outside the Ocala, Fla., courthouse where his case is being heard, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
But trial observers also include detractors such as J.J. MacNab, who is writing a book on “tax deniers.” She takes aim at the movement’s myths at The Snipes Trial.
