A mysterious meeting of taxes, vampires, celebrity dancers and ‘Wild’ women

Is it just coincidence that this morning a federal judge, who
reportedly is a movie buff, heard the tax conviction appeal of an
actor who played a vampire hunter on the very day that the second installment of the pop culture
phenomenon Twilight film series hit theaters?

And could that convergence mean that things are lining up on this freaky Friday for Blade star Wesley Snipes to have his tax troubles legally erased?

Probably not.

I personally enjoy interesting intersections of randomly related occurrences, but most of the
time they are indeed just happenstance. And that's likely the case for Snipes.

So back to the facts, ma'am.

The
11th Circuit three-judge panel that heard oral arguments in
Snipes' case included film fan Judge
Stanley Marcus. (Thanks, TaxProf for the tip, on the hearing and the judge's entertainment preferences.)

There's no word on whether Marcus enjoys Snipes' films in general or the Blade trilogy in particular. Neither do
we know what he thinks about all the Twilight mania.

Regardless, I'm sure Marcus' cinematic proclivities won't affect his legal judgment in any way.

Meanwhile,
a couple of other celebrities, and I use that word in the very loose
way that it's bandied about nowadays, also are facing some tough tax issues.

'Girls
Gone Wild' founder facing tax lien: Unfortunately, I was wrong when I
announced in September that our tackiest national tax nightmare was almost over. It's not.

Joe
Francis, founder of the Girls Gone Wild video franchise, has been hit
with an IRS lien for the almost $34 million that the agency says he owes in unpaid taxes for 2001,
2002 and 2003.

On the criminal side of the tax charge, Francis earlier this year
worked out a plea deal for time served. But the tax money portion was
left to be worked out.

Some workout, eh, Joe?

'Dancing' star doing a tax tap dance:  A celeb with a more benign public persona also is in tax trouble.

Former
teen idol Aaron Carter, seen most recently on ABC's Dancing With The Stars, is facing a $1 million IRS lien.

Carter's
manager says the pop star's tax debt is the fault of a former
management team. Carter, say his people, was "completely unaware" he
owed back taxes until he heard bout it in the media.

Looks like
in addition to getting a good tax attorney, the young Mr. Carter also
needs to revisit his current management team if they also were
oblivious to or just didn't tell him about his IRS obligations.

Related posts:

• Get packing, Wesley
• Tax plea for 'Girls Gone Wild' founder
• Richard Hatch is free! Again. Sort of
• Famous tax cheats of 2008
• Celebrity tax troubles (Note: this item will be shown first; scroll down for all the scoop)

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