Wesley Snipes

Wesley Snipes is a Hollywood actor best known for his various starring roles in action flicks in the 1990s. Snipes was one of the most bankable black actors up until several years ago. Unfortunately, Snipes's ego eventually got the better of him as he apparently came to believe that "his shit didn't stink" and thought he shouldn't have to pay federal income taxes on the millions of dollars of income he received from his various acting roles over the years. When the IRS brought criminal charges against Snipes, he was convicted of various charges and sentenced to 3 years in prison for his crimes in a practically unbelievable fall from grace.

Wesley Snipes was born on July 31, 1962 in Orlando, Florida, although he grew up in the Bronx in New York City.  Snipes decided to pursue acting at any early age and attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing, a school popularized in the movie Fame.  However, Snipes moved back to Orlando during his teenage years.  After graduating from high school, Snipes local dinner theaters and regional productions.

Snipes' first movie role was in the 1986 movie Wildcats, where he played a high school football player.  Snipes followed up with a major role in the famous 1987 Michael Jackson video for Bad.  Snipes also had a starring role as a boxer in the 1987 movie, Streets of Gold.

Snipes turned down a minor role in the 1989 Spike Lee movie, Do the Right Thing, for a larger role in the hit baseball comedy movie Major League, where he played Willie Mays Hayes, a speedy slap hitter.  Snipes' role in Major League was well-received and really put him on the map with mainstream audiences.  After the success of Major League, Snipes became one of the most sought-after black actor actors in Hollywood.

Snipes followed up on the success of Major League by appearing in starring roles in both Jungle Feaver and New Jack City in 1991.  Snipes' performances were acclaimed and his star was clearly on the rise as of the early 1990s.  Snipes later appeared in starring role in the 1992 sports comedy, White Men Can't Jump. Snipes followed up with roles in the 1992 action hit, Passenger 57, and the 1993 action hit, Demolition Man, where he showed off his martial arts skills.

Snipes later appeared in the cult-classic 1998 vampire action flick, Blade, and subsequently appeared in two Blade sequels, Blade II, and Blade: Trinity.

However, after the 1990s had passed, Snipes' star started to fade as audiences tired of him and the roles he was offered became few and far between.  Snipes' personal life started crashing down upon him at the same time.  Snipes apparently thought he was immune to the federal tax laws, as he unbelievably filed a false tax refund claim of over $4 million for the 1996 tax year, a false tax refund claim of over $7.3 million for the 1997 tax year, and also failed to file any federal tax returns for the tax years between 1999 and 2004.

Not surprisingly, the IRS was none to too pleased with Snipes' apparent tax fraud.  Snipes was charged with defrauding the IRS and with one count of knowingly making or aiding and abetting the making of a false and fraudulent claim for payment against the United States. Snipes additionally charged with six counts of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns by their filing date.

Snipes must have squandered his acting fortune, as he apparently lacked the means to pay his tax bills.  In 2005, desperate for money, Snipes initially agreed to fight Joe Rogan in a mixed martial arts match, although later backed down out of fear of receiving a vicious pummeling.   Snipes defended himself in his legal case by raising an absurd defense that he was not a U.S. citizen and therefore was not obligated to pay federal taxes, despite the fact that Snipes was born in the U.S. and is therefore a U.S. citizen by birthright.  Snipes was also so desperate to avoid jail time that he claimed that he was the victim of a racist conspiracy notwithstanding his obvious fraudlent actions.

The government's action against Snipes went to court in 2008, where he was found guilty of willful failure to file federal income tax returns and was sentenced to three years in prison.  Snipes began serving his sentence in 2010 was was released in 2013.  Snipes has apparently tried to return to the limelight and is reportedly set to appear in a minor role in the 2014 action flick, Expendables 3.

Wesley Snipes was once one of the most bankable black actors in Hollywood.  He must have felt like he was invincible and that the world was his oyster by the late 1990s.  However, Snipes' arrogance apparently got the better of him as his squandered his fortune and willfully failed to pay his federal taxes.  Snipes' stunning fall from grace led to a three-year prison sentence.  Accordingly, there is no doubt that Wesley Snipes is on washed-up celebrity!

Richard Hatch

Richard Hatch is a celebrity unlike any other celebrity I have profiled here. He became famous as the $1,000,000 grand prize winner of the first installment of the hit reality show, Survivor back in 2000. He went from parading around discussing his Survivor victory and hosting a $300k+ radio show host gig after Survivor to serving a prison sentence for tax evasion and spouting conspiracy theories to deflect criticism from himself.

Hatch was born on April 8, 1961 in Rhode Island. Hatch is an openly gay man and searched for direction for many years as a young adult. He spent five years in the United States Army, two of which were at the United States Military Academy where he studied management. However, Hatch dropped out of the Military Academy after two years. Hatch also spent some time studying Oceanography and Marine Biology at Florida Institute of Technology, and General Studies at George Mason University, and a Masters' program in Education and Counseling at Providence College in Rhode Island.

Hatch adopted a son named Christopher because his gay lover was incapable of bearing his children. However, Hatch experienced some parental difficulties and was arrested and charged with child abuse in April 2000, after his son alleged to a school official that his father had pushed his face in the ground while doing push-ups. The charges were dropped a month later after a judge ruled that Hatch's son had exaggerated the details of the incident.

Back in 2000, Hatch was working as a corporate trainer when he found out that a new reality show was auditioning contestants by asking them to send in videotapes of themselves showing off their personalities. Hatch sent in a tape and was selected to appear on the first installment of the hugely successful Survivor reality show. The first season was entitled, Survivor: Borneo.





In Survivor: Borneo, Hatch was marooned with 15 other contestants on the Borneo island in Malaysia. The 16 contestants were initially divided into tribes of 8 contestants and one contestant was voted out at the end of each episode. The contestants generally had to fend for themselves in large part and Hatch was a valuable member of his team because he was physically strong, a good swimmer and fisher, and showed leadership skills. He famously formed a secret alliance with several other of his teammates, including the crusty former Navy SEAL, Rudy Boesch.

Although Hatch was a strong contestant, he did annoy the other contestants by periodically parading around the island naked with his balls and ass hanging out for the world to see. Hatch would occasionally sit naked on logs at his tribe camp, disturbing other contestants and rendering the logs unusable and reeking of the smell of ass. About his nakedness, Hatch said, "It's funny when I hear, 'How come you're naked all the time.' I'm naked less then 1% of the time. I'd like to be naked all the time. That would be smarter in this 100 degree weather."


One of his tribe mates, Sean Kenniff, assumed that Hatch was walking around naked because he wanted to hook up with some of the other male contestants or possibly even the camera crew. Kenniff said, "If there's any horny gay men out there that want a horny guy in return, I know one."


Hatch celebrated his 39th birthday while on the island by stripping naked. Hatch said, "I'm 39 today and I had intended for quite a long time to celebrate my birthday naked."

Another tribe mate, Jenna Lewis, said, "It felt awkward sitting next to a naked gay man. If he had something to cover the butt crack area, I'd be cool with that."


Rudy Boesch said, "When I go home, if my wife asks me, 'Who was with you," I'll say the queer who ran around bare-ass half the time." Despite his disapproval of Hatch's homosexual lifestyle and nakedness on the island, Hatch said, "Me and Richard got to be pretty good friends; not in a homosexual way, that's for sure."

Hatch's secret alliance proved to be successful as he was one of the last two contestants on the show. Hatch eventually won the $1 million grand prize in a close vote over the second place contestant, Kelly Wiglesworth.

Survivor: Borea aired for 13 weeks between the end of May and August 2000 and proved to be a tremendous success. The finale of Survivor was reported watched by 51.7 million viewers, making it the second-highest viewership of any American television episode during the first decade of the 21st century, exceeded only by the finale of Friends.

The success of Survivor: Borneo made Hatch a big star in 2000 and he was showered with offers. Hatch accepted an offer to co-host "Wilde Show," a Boston morning radio show for a salary of over $320k. Hatch also wrote the motivation book, "101 Survival Secrets: How to Win $1,000,000, Lose 100 Pounds, and Just Plain Live Happily" that was published in October 2000.

Hatch was having the time of his life as a big star during the early years of this decade. He even appeared on the Australian version of the popular game show, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," where he famously answered the $500 question incorrectly and left with no prize money.

However, Hatch's massive ego and hubris eventually led him astray as Hatch thought that he was invincible. Hatch never paid any taxes on the Survivor grand prize or the $320k+ that he received from his radio co-host gig. The IRS eventually came after he for unpaid taxes in 2005, and stated Hatch would be charged with filing a false tax return. Hatch initially agreed to plea guilty in exchange for a lenient sentence. However, Hatch withdrew from the arrangement, claiming that CBS had arranged to pay his taxes before awarding him prize money back in 2000.

Hatch's withdrawal from the plea agreement apparently pissed off the IRS, as they aggressively pursed their case against him. Hatch was indicted in 10-count indictment for failing to report income from Survivor and his radio show, as well as additional charges that he failed to report rental income from properties he owned, failed to declare an automobile he won on Survivor, used money as personal income that was paid to a charity organization he had set up, and submitted false tax statements.

A jury found Hatch guilty of tax evasion, although he was acquitted of seven bank, mail and wire fraud charges. On May 16, 2006 Hatch was sentenced to 51 months in prison, plus three years of supervised release after serving his sentence and began serving his sentence immediately. I wonder whether Hatch walked around naked throughout the prison like he did on Survivor. If so, one has to wonder whether his sphincter "survived" his prison sentence. Hatch served nearly a full 3 years in prison until being released on Thursday, May 14, 2009 to serve a period of home confinement.

On August 18, 2009, he was re-arrested and taken into federal custody for granting two supposedly unauthorized interviews with Access Hollywood and Rhode Island NBC affiliate WJAR. During the interviews, Hatch mentioned that he was broke and bitter about his predicament. Prisoners under house arrest are required to get permission from the federal Bureau of Prisons before any media contact. Hatch remained in prison until October 16, 2009 when he was released.

Notwithstanding the various felonies that Hatch committed, he maintains that he was prosecuted for committing his various felonies because "he is gay."

Richard Hatch rose from obscurity to be one of the most discussed celebrities in 2000 trough his cunning strategies that he implemented in his appearance on the smash hit Survivor: Borneo. However, Hatch quickly lost all of his money and the good will he had earned by evading taxes and then landing in prison for several years after foolishly spurning a plea agreement with the IRS. Hatch's arrogance and rapid fall from grace show that there can be no doubt that Richard Hatch is one washed-up celebrity!

*** Update - April 10, 2011 ***

Richard Hatch recently appeared on Celebrity Apprentice. Hatch made it through the fifth week before being "fired" after failing to sell artwork during a competition on the show.

Hatch was also sent back to prison for another nine months in March 2011 for tax evasion. Hatch reportedly still owes that IRS $2 million in taxes and penalties. Hatch is also being pursed by Malaysian authorities for failing to pay taxes on the $1 million he won in 2000 on Survivor. Hatch has been all but begging someone to give him the money to pay off Malaysian authorities!

Lane Garrison

Lane Garrison is a young actor who was a rising star in Hollywood until very recently when he made the ill-fated decision to drive while heavily intoxicated.

Garrison was born in Dallas, Texas on May 23, 1980 and raised in Richardson, Texas. He was a troubled youth and admits to having been a thief. He stole items such as cars and stereos. He had a troubled relationship with his mother and moved out of his mother's house at age seventeen. As luck would have it, his family's minister was a nice man who took Garrison under his wing and let Garrison stay at his house with his family until Garrison straightened his life out. Surprisingly, the minister was Joe Simpson, the father of pop stars Jessica and Ashlee Simpson.

In 1998, at the age of eighteen, Garrison drove to Los Angeles to become an actor. His first acting job was in backpack commercial that paid $3,500. Garrison struggled to make it for several years until he finally got his big break and was cast as David "Tweener" Apolskis on the hit TV show Prison Break. His character was a punk who was sent to the Fox River State Penitentiary. His character earned the name "Tweener" because he acted like a wigger when he arrived at Fox River and neither the black inmates nor the white inmates would associate with him. Tweener was immediately a mark for some of the gay inmates on the show, such as Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell. In one of the episodes Tweener cried himself to sleep because T-Bag kept threatening to molest him. A sadistic prison guard, Brad Bellick, quickly arranged for a large inmate to share Tweener's cell. The large inmate eventually raped Tweener. As a result of the abuse, Tweener was eventually included in the main plotline involving several inmates escaping the prison.





The Tweener character was killed off the show in 2006. However, Garrison's character built a loyal following of fans and he was eventually cast in a minor role in the 2007 major motion picture Shooter. Garrison must have felt like he was on top of the world as he was undoubtedly on the path toward bigger and better movie and/or TV roles.

Unfortunately, Garrison's world and career imploded on December 2, 2006 when he was involved in a fatal car crash. On that fateful day Garrison had been drinking and ran into some teens (one 17-year-old boy, and two 15-year-old girls) at a grocery store. Although he didn't know the teens, they recognized him from Prison Break and asked him to accompany them to a party. Garrison obliged them and showed up at the party where he had at least one drink with his underage fans. According to some sources, Garrison was doing several shots with the group of high school students when he crashed his SUV on the way to the liquor store to restock on his particular brand of vodka. In the crash, Garrison lost control of his SUV, jumped a curb and ran into a tree at a high rate of speed. His 17-year-old male passenger died in the crash and the two 15-year-old girls were also injured, one critically. It was later reported that Garrison's blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was more than twice the legal limit (i.e., greater than .16%) and that was under the influence of cocaine.

On March 8, 2007 Garrison was charged with vehicular manslaughter for his role in the crash. Garrison has accepted responsibility for his actions and on April 11, 2007 it was reported that Garrison would plead guilty to the charge of vehicular manslaughter.

Garrison faces up to six years and eight months in prison for his crime. Garrison is a small man and he had better hope that life doesn't imitate art when he is sentenced to prison time because he sure won't want to experience the kind of abuse that his character Tweener did at the hands of horny aggressors at the Fox River State Penitentiary in Prison Break.

For the many reasons discussed above, Lane Garrison is one washed-up celebrity!

** I take no pleasure in this blog post because someone died in Garrison's crash and Garrison seemed to be a decent guy until his accident.

*** Update - August 2, 2007 ***
Lane Garrison was sentenced to 90 days in California state prison today. Liberal judge Elden Fox infuriated the parents of the kids killed in Garrison's DUI accident by sentencing Garrison to a 90 day stint during which psychiatrists and others will evaluate him to determine whether he is a suitable candidate for straight probation. The odds are that the judge will let Garrison go free after a mere 3 months in prison. Garrison should thank his lucky stars that he was not assigned the judge from the Paris Hilton trial. If he had that judge, he would have been looking at years in prison.


*** Update - November 1, 2007 ***
Lane Garrison was sentenced to 40 months in California state prison for his DUI accident. Before the sentencing, an emotional Garrison told the familes of his victims that he was "'genuinely remorseful' and 'sickened' by his bahevior that night." Garrison will be credited for the time he has already served while undergoing the psychological evaluation discussed above. Garrison was also ordered to pay about $300,000 to the families of his victims.