(04-03) 21:07 PDT PHILADELPHIA (AP) --
A man who contended that he was not required to pay income tax, and whose case led to an indictment against actor Wesley Snipes, was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in prison.
Arthur L. Farnsworth, 43, of Sellersville, was also fined $500 and ordered to cooperate with Internal Revenue Service investigators in documenting his finances and beginning to pay his tax debt of almost $83,000, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on its Web site.
He told the jury that his own research had convinced him that federal tax payments were voluntary. Prosecutors argued that his research was created to cover his political beliefs.
Prosecutors said Farnsworth transferred his money to overseas bank accounts and put it into bogus trusts to try to hide his income. A raid on his home in 2002 found documents detailing some of the trust funds, leading to a nationwide probe of fraudulent trusts. That led to charges against other people, including Snipes, the star of the "Blade Runner" movies.
Snipes, who is awaiting trial, has said he is a scapegoat and was unfairly targeted by prosecutors, and he has suggested he was taken advantage of.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/04/03/national/a210714D15.DTL