Snipes facing jail for tax fraud

US prosecutors have said that Blade actor Wesley Snipes could face up to three years in prison and a fine of $5 million (£2.5 million) for tax evasion.

The action star was indicted for tax fraud in 2006 and later freed on $1 million bail. He was cleared of fraud in February but found guilty of failing to submit tax returns.

Snipes will be sentenced on April 24 and prosecutors are recommending that he face the maximum punishment for breaking US tax laws.

A statement from the US Department of Justice said: "For nearly a decade, Snipes has engaged in a campaign of criminal tax conduct, combining brazen defiance with insidious concealment.

"Snipes has escaped paying more than $15m (£7.6m) in income tax to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and has pursued an intended fraudulent harm to the United States Treasury of more than $41m (£20.8m)."

Snipes's lawyer Robert Barnes argued: "Disagreement with the IRS is not fraud of the IRS, [it] is not deception."

The 45-year-old actor's work includes White Men Can't Jump, Passenger 57, Money Train and the Blade trilogy.