UPDATE:

Prosecutors are recommending a three-year prison sentence for Wesley Snipes for tax evasion, according to a court filing released – appropriately – on Tuesday, tax day.

Per the papers, filed by U.S. Attorney Robert O’Neill, the actor also ought to pay a $5 million fine for his “brazen defiance” of tax laws that cheated the government out of $41 million.

“This case cries out for the statutory maximum term of imprisonment, as well as a substantial fine, because of the seriousness of defendant Snipes’ crimes and because of the singular opportunity this case presents to deter tax crime nationwide,” the attorney writes.

The documents also claim that Wesley and two cohorts “brazenly waged a campaign” against the Internal Revenue Service by mailing fake claims and filings to the agency, in addition to making “frivolous” Freedom of Information Act requests for IRS records.

Wesley was convicted in February on three misdemeanor counts of willfully failing to file tax returns from 1999-2001. The maximum sentence of each count is one full year. The Blade star avoided penalty for two felony counts of fraud in seeking refunds from other years and filing false claims.

Back in February, I looked at how Wesley Snipes had been found a little guilty of tax dodging. And Snipes was blowing all that smoke on how whitey keeps him down. Well, He was cleared of federal tax-fraud and conspiracy charges but found guilty of three misdemeanor counts of failing to file a tax return.

So with an eye for maximum drama, federal prosecutors chose April 15 or Tax Day in the US, to push their case. And now, it looks like he could be off to jail. Despite the acquittals of the more serious crimes, the prosecutors are not letting up. They want a maximum statutory sentence of three years plus a a fine of at least $5 million for Snipes.

More details in this sentencing memorandum. US attorney Robert O’Neill pulls no punches.

“Criminal tax prosecutions play a vital role in our nation’s tax system because our system of self-reported tax liability depends upon citizens’ being assured that those who do not honestly report their income and pay their taxes will be appropriately punished. In the defendant Wesley Snipes, the Court is presented with a wealthy, famous, and inveterate tax scofflaw. If ever a tax offender was deserving of being held accountable to the maximum extent for his criminal wrongdoing, Snipes is that defendant.

“The criminal tax laws are designed to protect the public interest in preserving the integrity of the nation’s tax system. Criminal tax prosecutions serve to punish the violator and promote respect for the tax laws. The sentence for the criminal tax scofflaw must be commensurate with the gravity of the offense, and should act as a deterrent to other potential violators. This case cries out for the statutory maximum term of imprisonment, as well as a substantial fine, because of the seriousness of defendant Snipes’ crimes and because of the singular opportunity this case presents to deter tax crime nationwide. For nearly a decade, Snipes has engaged in a campaign of criminal tax conduct combining brazen defiance with insidious concealment.”

O’Neill says Snipes is not as much a “tax protestor” as he is a “tax defier”. This is “because he rejects the legal foundation of the tax system, despite decades of legal precedent upholding the system’s constitutional and statutory validity, and took affirmative steps to impede and obstruct the lawful right of the government to tax. Snipes and his ilk nominally deny that any law makes them liable for tax, citing absurd pseudo-legal theories that self-servingly coincide with their own economic interests. Tax defiers such as Snipes often demand individual responses to their putative “questions” and refuse to accept judicial and administrative rulings explaining the frivolousness of their theories.”

Serves him right.