The actor lost his Florida home to foreclosure, got sued for US$2 million (HK$15.6 million) by his own talent agencies and now faces a legal challenge. He surrendered Friday in Orlando, Florida, and denied federal charges he tried to collect US$11.4 million in fraudulent income tax refunds and failed to file returns after 1998.

Indicted with two other men October 17, the star of the Blade trilogy, Jungle Fever and New Jack City faces up to 16 years in prison. He was released on a US$1 million bond.

In a recent e-mail to an Orlando newspaper columnist, he cast himself as a "scapegoat" and a victim of the public's appetite for "celebrities gone bad."

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"I didn't flee," he said, reiterating that he'd left for Namibia before the indictment and was never on the lam. "I was already gone."

Lawyer Billy Martin called Snipes "the victim of unscrupulous tax advice," signaling he would try to lay blame on two other men charged.

Co-starring with Snipes in the highly publicized tax drama are Eddie Ray Kahn, a veteran tax protester, and Douglas Rosile, who apparently didn't let the revocation of his certified public accountant licenses in Ohio and Florida get in the way of his work.

Six years ago Snipes allegedly snubbed his longtime financial adviser and put his faith in Kahn, who founded the anti-tax American Rights Litigators.

Touting his group as "a professional organization that utilizes aggressive CPAs and attorneys," Kahn traveled the country, conducting seminars for people who paid US$40 at the door to learn of his "proven techniques" for dealing with the IRS, according to court records.

Kahn was arrested after Panamanian officials expelled him. Rosile turned himself in and was released on his own recognizance after pleading not guilty.

It's unclear how Snipes got involved with the pair, although all three apparently lived in central Florida at the time.

American Rights Litigators allegedly prepared fraudulent tax returns for as many as 4,000 client-members from all over the nation, according to court documents.

Prosecutors say Snipes joined in 2000 and soon after submitted the first of two amended returns that unsuccessfully sought multimillion dollar refunds of taxes he had previously paid. He filed the second a year later.

He not only used Kahn's services, authorities say, but also promoted them.

Snipes also is accused of submitting US$14 million in fictitious "bills of exchange" as payment for unspecified taxes. The documents were nothing more than counterfeit checks, prosecutors allege.

Snipes also allegedly wrote twice to the IRS to challenge an agent's authority to investigate him. And he allegedly signed an affidavit of incompetence that claimed he did not understand the tax laws or know if they applied to him.

LOS ANGELES TIMES