Folks, if you haven't heard,
actor, Wesley Snipes, was ordered to voluntarily turn himself into a prison facility in Pennsylvania on December 9, 2010, to serve a three year term, reportedly on "tax evasion".
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| Maan, I can't believe this...I may have to turn into a bat and fly away... |
I was sent the link to the following open letter from Nikki Snipes, Wesley Snipe's wife, and was so astonished by what I read that I had to pass it on. I don't know what's true or not but I do know that I've never heard even half of these details. Thanks, Journalists! You're doing a GREAT job... *side eye*
Dear Beloved Friends and Families,
Thank you for giving love and support through all these years as our family has been going through this heinous battle. With much support and love from you all, we are gathering ourselves from the shocking decision in the most recent hearing on my husband’s misdemeanor case. My warrior husband is still standing strong, willing to give his all to defend his liberty, something that had never crossed our minds that he would have to fight to keep.
At the moment, he is at home with us and has filed a motion for an extension of his bail in order to move forward on going to the Supreme Court to seek the justice that has not been served.
It’s been 4 years since the indictment literally dropped down on Wesley out of blue when he was filming in Africa and I have been patiently waiting for the truth to unveil and prevail itself, doing whatever necessary for his vindication. Now the misrepresentation and speculations have gone too far as the government moved forward with outrageous, selective prosecution on my husband's misdemeanor conviction.
I now feel that it is necessary to write this letter for the sake of our five wonderful children’s future in this country and most of all, for the sake of my man’s integrity and dignity that has been attacked and destroyed not only by the government but also by the media who’s been spinning and twisting the whole story and misinforming the public
I feel like going around and telling every one of you face to face the truth you never got to hear through the media who has been erroneously reporting all of these shocking series of events to look like a lame tax evasion story from the very beginning.
So please spare me a moment to inform you with the facts and the truth of how it all went down…
More than a decade ago, Wesley was using an accounting service from Kenneth Starr, the founder of Starr & Company. In 1999, he discovered that Starr had forged his signature on a document and his monies had been stolen. He requested that the Manhattan DA in NYC investigate and warned his fellow actor Sylvester Stallone who was Starr’s client at the time as well.
In 2000, after parting ways with Starr, Wesley sought for more honest representation and got introduced to Eddie Khan and his accounting firm that represented more than 4000 clients, including lawyers, doctors, business owners and IRS EMPLOYEES and he was offered to try the service for awhile. But soon after, he also parted ways with Eddie and sought other financial advisors. However, in 2006, the government decided to indict Eddie Khan (the founder of the Florida accounting firm) but picked Wesley out of Eddie’s 4000 clients and made him share the same charges they had put on Eddie as a co-conspirator. Wesley was not even his client at the time but had a history of Eddie filing papers for him just like the other 4000 clients he had filed the papers for.
In 2008, Wesley received a trial followed by the indictment, not in the state of his residency but in Ocala, Florida, a place he had never even been before. Moreover, the given jury pool of 120 people for the trial consisted of mostly non-college graduate, white people except for two (2) African-Americans whom the government rescheduled to come back but conveniently gave them the wrong return date. Therefore, the 12 jurors selected out of that pool were all-white and none of them had a similar background or similar experiences as my husband, unlike what is required by the law. Thus, his attorney filed a motion on this specific issue, but the judge denied it and began the trial in Ocala just as they had planned out. When this incident got out to the press, they made sure that my husband was PLAYING the “race card.”
During the trial, the government announced that Kenneth Starr was to be their key witness and Wesley’s team raised the issue that Starr’s credibility was in serious question due to not only the fact that he had defrauded Wesley (the very reason why he had to seek for other accountants) but also Starr’s previous involvement in Anthony Pelicano’s illegal wiretapping case back in February 2006. At Pelicano’s trial, the government presented audiotape evidence and witness testimony that Kenneth Starr had hired Pelicano to wiretap Stallone after he got sued by Stallone for misappropriation of his funds. HOWEVER, when Wesley’s team raised this issue at the trial due to the fact that it was Wesley who first discovered Starr’s fraudulent activities and requested an investigation disapproving Starr’s credibility, the government LIED and said that Pelicano illegally wiretapped Stallone on his own and HID the fact that Starr had been investigated as co-conspirator. We got to find this out only after Starr finally got arrested for his overbearing crimes after the trial. Starr, as a key witness who has been bitter since Wesley’s discovery of his crimes, sufficiently prevented Wesley from receiving a fair trial.
Through it all, Wesley was found NOT GUILTY on every offensive charge but guilty of three (3) MISDEMEANORS of willful failure to file tax returns during the period of three years when he was going through chaotic financial situations, seeking for the right trustworthy advisor. However, as Judge Hodges decided to make him an example (as he literally said it out loud at the trial), he sentenced Wesley to THREE (3) YEARS of IMPRISONMENT for the misdemeanor conviction, instead of sentencing him to probation or public service for such misdemeanor charges as in many other similar cases.
We realized so clearly at that point that the government was determined to destroy his life, his family, his integrity, his career, and everything he had built and earned in his life. There was no question for us that he should fight to not only defend his liberty but also to vindicate himself.
As he kept his faith and continued seeking for justice, the truth started to prevail.
In May 2010, Kenneth Starr was indicted for a Ponzi scheme in which he stole at least $20 million of his clients’ money, the very thing that Wesley had claimed earlier. Starr’s arrest on such charges ended up exposing his poor credibility just as Wesley’s team had claimed during the trial.
Followed by Starr’s arrest, in July 2010, the 11th Circuit Court rushed an opinion affirming the verdict against Wesley, then the media immediately spread the news even before our attorney found out. We were totally shocked and disappointed again.
However, shortly after the media spread the news, one juror from the trial sent an unsolicited email to Wesley's attorney offering help.
According to the email: There were three (3) jurors in the jury that had presumed Wesley to be guilty even before the trial started without seeing any documents, They had to compromise with those three jurors and ended up finding him guilty of three misdemeanors as result of it,They did not think the judge would give him any jail time for the misdemeanor convictions.
Followed by this email, another juror sent an unsolicited email confirming that most of the jurors believed Wesley would not receive any jail time for the verdict.
Subsequently, my husband’s legal team filed a motion to interview the jurors after receiving the two (2) emails as well as a motion for a new trial based on jury misconduct on the grounds of the three (3) jurors’ apparent perjury with their preconceived notions of the defendant’s guilt.
In October 2010,Starr pled GUILTY to most of the charges.
On November 15, Wesley’s team asked for a new trial at the hearing based on the alleged perjury of the three (3) jurors and perjured testimony of Starr, as well as the prosecutorial misconduct of the government who withheld information about Starr’s previous criminal conduct before Snipes’ trial.However, last week, on November 19, 2010, Judge Hodges issued an order REFUSING to interview any of the jurors, DENYING my husband a new trial and REVOKING his bail as requested by the government. He had simply denied every single one of our requests and with that he denied Wesley’s constitutional rights.
On top of the government’s effort to take my man’s liberty, the media has been assisting by adding more fuel to the already overwhelming fire. Ever since the jury rendered its verdict on February 1, 2008, the media has repeatedly MISREPRESENTED Wesley as having been convicted of tax evasion. He was NEVER charged with or convicted of tax evasion. He was convicted on three (3) misdemeanor charges of failing to file his tax returns in 1999, 2000 and 2001, respectively while dealing with the Kenneth Starr’s issue which has caused him a great deal of damage in his finances and wellas his ability to trust.
At this point, it is more than obvious that the government has been abusing their power to use my husband’s fame and popularity in order to make him an example in a crime he NEVER committed. It is clear that excessive and extreme penalty has been given to him for demonstration purposes. Moreover, the media has been playing a HUGE part in the government’s propaganda to make his case appear as a tax fraud crime scheme.
It is excruciating... to the degree that it is surreal to be wronged in a way that I thought only existed in the movies. And frankly, this is even worse than a movie because the public has heard only one side of the story, which is the side that is far from the truth.
All we had simply asked and have been asking for was to receive a new and fair trial from the very beginning of this unfortunate incident. Surprisingly, my husband’s constitutional right have not been granted but rather violated throughout the whole process. Yet I keep my faith in the belief that there is justice for us to be found somewhere in this country.
Wesley has always been an honorable man, wonderful husband, loving father, and most of all, a man of integrity for as long as I have known him and shared my life with him over a decade. He is NOT a tax–evading criminal who needs to be put away and imprisoned for three years but an artist who simply needs an honest accountant who does not deceive. No words can describe the kind of respect that has grown in my heart for him over the years and is still growing right at this minute, watching and learning about him most up-close and personal. He has never rested but has been putting all of his best efforts and passion towards what he does the best: acting and producing films.
Just as he had confessed at the trial, my husband really is an idealistic, naive, passionate, truth-seeking, spiritually motivated artist who was unschooled and miseducated in the field of finance as I can and would bear witness to and as many of you who really know him would agree as well.
So please continue to pray with and for us until justice is served in his case.
Again, I appreciate your love and support. It is important for us that you have an accurate account of the TRUTHFUL information on what happened and continues to happen to your dear friend and brother Wesley regardless of what has been said and played out in the media, as his integrity and dignity remains with those who care and love him.
Please feel free to share the truth if you happen to come across misinformed people who want to crucify the brother for failing to file the papers just as many citizens in this country fail to file at times for various reasons.
Thank you for taking your time to read my long letter. From the bottom of my heart, I wish all of you and your loved ones a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving weekend.
Lastly, writing this letter was truly healing for my soul and emotions. I thank each one of you for the healing.
May God bless you.
Sincerely with Peace & Love,
Nikki Snipes
Wow. Your thoughts, folks? Is Wesley guilty or not? What's up with the dude who doesn't believe in paying taxes? Why haven't we heard of any of this? What's going on, for real?
Thanks to @Amaditalks for sharing this link. Follow us on Twitter: @drgoddess
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