Witness says he warned Snipes to pay his taxes

Witness says he warned
Snipes to pay his taxes

OCALA, Fla. — A financial adviser has testified that he warned Wesley Snipes that he could get into trouble if he didn’t pay his taxes. Snipes is on trial on charges of tax fraud, conspiracy and willful failure to file tax returns. He faces up to 16 years in prison. The 45-year-old actor allegedly stopped filing returns, illegally sought refunds totaling $11 million for 1996 and 1997 taxes paid, and drew fake checks to pay the U.S. Treasury. Kenneth Starr, head of New York-based Starr and Co., testified Thursday that he tried to persuade Snipes to pay his taxes in a 90-minute telephone conversation in 2000. Starr handled the actor’s taxes before Snipes met his co-defendants. “(Snipes) was adamant about the fact that he did not have that obligation,” Starr said. “I said that was ridiculous; that everyone has that obligation. He said he had spoken to some people that said he didn’t have to.” Prosecutors say Snipes paid taxes in the ’90s, but changed his mind after meeting co-defendant Eddie Ray Kahn, founder of the tax protest groups American Rights Litigators and Guiding Light of God Ministries, in 2000. Kahn and Douglas P. Rosile, who allegedly prepared Snipes’ false documents, are co-defendants. They face up to 10 years in prison.

Lily Allen has miscarriage

NEW YORK — Lily Allen, 22, who announced her pregnancy last month, has had a miscarriage. “She and her partner, Ed Simons, will be making no further comment and we ask that their privacy be respected during this difficult time,” Allen’s spokesman, Jon Bills, said Friday in a statement. Simons, 37, is a member of The Chemical Brothers. Allen’s cheeky debut album “Alright, Still” was released in the U.S. last year.

Lohan to work in morgue

LOS ANGELES — Lindsay Lohan is about to see dead people. The 21-year-old actress will soon be working at a morgue as part of her punishment for misdemeanor drunken driving, her attorney, Blair Berk, told a judge Thursday. She has also spent two months in rehabilitation and has done some community service, Berk said at a hearing on her progress toward fulfilling the terms of her plea bargain. Her two four-hour days at the morgue are part of a court-ordered program to show drivers the real-life consequences of drinking and driving. She must also spend two days working in a hospital emergency room. Lohan was arrested twice last year on DUI charges and pleaded guilty in August to misdemeanor drunken driving and cocaine charges.

Today’s birthdays

Actress Jean Stapleton is 85. Singer Phil Everly is 69. Actress Shelley Fabares is 64. Country singer Dolly Parton is 62. ABC newswoman Ann Compton is 61. TV chef Paula Deen is 61. Actor Desi Arnaz Jr. is 55. Comedian Paul Rodriguez is 53. Tennis player Stefan Edberg is 42. Rock singer-musician John Wozniak (Marcy Playground) is 37. Comedian-impressionist Frank Caliendo is 34.