Prosecutors urge prison for Snipes

OCALA, Fla., April 15 (UPI) -- U.S. prosecutors in Wesley Snipes's federal tax case have recommended the actor be sentenced to three years in prison, court documents show.

Prosecutors also requested that Snipes be fined $5 million

In court papers filed Monday, prosecutors stated that, for nearly a decade, Snipes "has engaged in a campaign of criminal tax conduct combining brazen defiance with insidious concealment.

"By these means," the documents said, "Snipes has escaped paying more than $15 million in income tax to the Internal Revenue Service, and has pursued an intended fraudulent harm to the United States Treasury of more than $41 million."

A Florida jury earlier this year acquitted Snipes of felony tax fraud and conspiracy charges but, in a split verdict, found him guilty on three misdemeanor charges of failing to file tax returns.

He faces a maximum one-year sentence on each, but would have faced up to 16 years in prison if he had been convicted of the more serious charges.

Snipes, 45, is the star of the "Blade" trilogy, "White Men Can't Jump" and "New Jack City."

He had been charged with evading taxes on money he earned from films and investments from 1999 to 2004.