'Tax probe began with home raid'
2006-12-08 11:53
Philadelphia - The tax-fraud investigation that led to the indictment of actor Wesley Snipes began with a raid four years ago in Pennsylvania, an agent for the federal Internal Revenue Service testified.
Agents found documents in a man's home that led to a nationwide investigation into fraudulent trust funds, special agent James Morris said on Wednesday. Snipes owned one of those trusts, said another witness, Wayne Rebuck, a former director at the company that sold the trusts.
The testimony came in the trial of the man, Arthur Farnsworth, who is accused of tax evasion.
Snipes, star of the Blade trilogy, Jungle Fever and White Men Can't Jump, was indicted in October on eight counts of tax fraud. He was accused of trying to cheat the government out of nearly $12m (about R85m) in false refund claims and not filing returns for six years.
The actor has said he is a scapegoat and was unfairly targeted by prosecutors.
- AP