Black Men Can Run

Wesley Snipes is on the run -- or at least complete disconnected to the world -- as the Internal Revenue Service wants either $12 million or 16 years of the actor's future.

Prosecutors said Snipes fraudulently claimed refunds totaling nearly $12 million in 1996 and 1997 on income taxes already paid. The star of the "Blade" trilogy and other films including "Jungle Fever" and "White Men Can't Jump" was also charged with failure to file returns from 1999 through 2004.

According to the indictment, Snipes had his taxes prepared by accountants with a history of filing false returns to reap payments for their clients. The firm American Rights Litigators would receive 20 percent of refunds from clients, according to the indictment. ...

Snipes, 44, who had a home in Windermere near Orlando, has not been arrested because authorities don't know where he is, Perez said. Snipes' manager and attorney did not return phone messages from The Associated Press.

"We've spoken to his former attorneys over the weekend," Perez said. "We presume that he knows, and of course after this press conference he will definitely know."

A 12-mil refund? C'mon, Wesley, don't you think that's going to draw one of those famous IRS red flags. About the only sign of tax fraud that's more obvious is the ol' "home office" deduction. But I guess if you make your living pretending to be a murderous robber, some bad habits will run off on you.