Tax Lien Filed Against Montel Williams

Montel Williams is the latest celebrity to have tax problems.  According to "The Smoking Gun," the IRS has filed a $1 million lien against Williams and his wife in connection with their 2008 and 2009 tax returns.

Read more here.

Celebrity Tax Problems - Lawyer Mickey Sherman

An attorney who has made frequent television appearances as a legal analyst and who represented a member of the Kennedy family in a murder trial a few years ago has been sentenced to jail time on tax charges.  Lawyer Michael "Mickey" Sherman owes about $1.2 million in back taxes from between 2001 and 2009.  Sherman was sentenced yesterday to one year and one day in prison.  Read more here.

Tax Problems for Rapper Doug E. Fresh

Rapper/record producer/beat-boxer Doug E. Fresh appears to be in trouble with the IRS.  Fresh owes more than $2.2 million in back taxes, and the IRS has filed a lien against him in New York.  It's not the first time Fresh has had problems with the IRS; the IRS came after him in 2008 for $367,000 in back taxes.

Read more here and here.

Snipes Reports to Prison

Wesley Snipes reported to a federal prison in Pennsylvania today to begin serving his 3-year prison sentence on tax-evasion charges.  Snipes was convicted in 2008 of failing to file tax returns and pay income tax on more than $37 million of income between 1999-2004.  He lost an appeal in July and another appeal in November.  Click here to read more about Snipes reporting to prison. 

Prior Dinesen Tax Times coverage can be found here, here and here.

Snipes Loses Appeal, Told to Report to Prison

Wesley Snipes has lost his request for a new trial on charges of tax fraud (click here to read the story from earlier this week on The Dinesen Tax Times).  A district court judge in Florida today denied that request and ordered Snipes to report to prison to start serving a 3-year prison sentence.  That sentence was first handed down in 2008; Snipes lost an appeal in July of this year.  Click here for the story from July.

Wesley Snipes Appeals Tax Evasion Conviction

Lawyers for actor Wesley Snipes filed an appeal on Monday of Snipes' conviction on tax evasion charges.  As reported earlier this year on the Dinesen Tax Times, Snipes was convicted of failing to file tax returns and pay income tax on more than $37 million of income between 1999-2004.  He was sentenced to three years in prison in 2008, and lost an appeal in July.

This time around, Snipes' lawyers are arguing that Snipes deserves a new trial because of an allegedly tainted jury.  One of Snipes' attorneys says he (the attorney) received e-mails from two jurors saying that three other jurors had made up their minds about Snipes being guilty before the trial started.

Snipes' attorneys are also arguing that Kenneth Starr, a financial advisor to Snipes and a key government witness against Snipes, was a "tainted witness" because Starr has since pleaded guilty to charges of fraud.

You can read more about the appeal here and here.