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Snipes, taxman make a deal
03/11/2006 11:10 - (SA)
Los Angeles - Hollywood action hero Wesley Snipes has struck a deal with US authorities that will see him avoid a jail term for allegedly dodging millions of dollars in taxes, it was reported on Thursday.
The star of the Blade vampire movies has reached an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whereby he will adhere to a payment plan in exchange for not serving a prison sentence, entertainment daily Variety reported.
The deal will also enable Snipes, who is currently in Namibia shooting a horror movie, to continue working and travelling abroad.
Snipes's managers, The Schiff Company, would not immediately confirm the report but said they expected to make a statement shortly.
"We hope to announce something soon. We will need to clear it with the lawyers first," a spokesperson for the Los Angeles-based management firm said.
Earlier this month, federal prosecutors in Tampa, Florida, issued an eight-count indictment accusing Snipes and two Florida men, Eddie Kahn and Douglas Rosile, of conspiracy to defraud the IRS and submitting fake claims.
Snipes, 44, who is best known for the Blade trilogy of vampire movies and films such as Jungle Fever and White Men Can't Jump, was also accused of six separate counts of failing to file income tax returns.
The indictment alleges Snipes owed around $12m in unpaid taxes. The conspiracy and false claim charges carry a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment each.
Backers of the movie Snipes is shooting in Namibia, Gallowwalker, said they were unfazed by the controversy surrounding the actor.
"We are happy that he continues to turn up on set each day. If his indictment creates this amount of press it shows he's a star," financier Gary Smith told Variety.
The deal paves the way for Snipes to appear in a new movie set in Asia next year. The movie, Dragon, sees Snipes playing an FBI agent on the trail of a druglord. Filming starts in Thailand in January, Variety reported.
The action hero first rose to fame in the 1980s when he was cast in the video for Michael Jackson's single Bad.
That proved to be the springboard for a successful acting career characterised by his portrayal of tough-guy characters in movies such as Demolition Man and New Jack City.
A martial arts fanatic, Snipes is famous for inserting quotations from Sun Tzu's The Art of War into his characters' roles.
- AFP
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South Africa
