Snipes evaded tax returns with "kooky" letters

The lawyers in Wesley Snipes' trial made their closing arguments yesterday, with the actor's defence counsel repeating the claim that he was misled into skipping tax payments.

Snipes has been in court in Florida facing major tax evasion charges, with prosecutors alleging that he failed to pay tax on approximately $38 million (£19.1 million) of income over a five-year period.

The Hollywood star's lawyer, Robert Barnes, admitted that his behaviour towards his tax returns had been somewhat "kooky, crazy and loony" but said that he was innocent of any deliberate fraud or deception.

Snipes has claimed that he acted under the influence of two rogue accountants who advised him to avoid making the tax contributions.

Barnes said that the case should have been decided in a civil court and summed up his case with the words "disagreement is not deception, frivolous is not fraud."

Snipes appeared in the highly successful Blade trilogy and is set to return to cinema screens this year in a film entitled Gallowwalker.