According to OK! Magazine, prosecutors are recommending a three-year prison sentence for Wesley Snipes for tax evasion and a $5 million fine for his “brazen defiance” of tax laws that cheated the government out of $41 million.
And what really pissed them off:
Wesley and two cohorts “brazenly waged a campaign” against the Internal Revenue Service by mailing fake claims and filings to the agency, in addition to making “frivolous” Freedom of Information Act requests for IRS records.
I agree that Snipes had brazen defiance of the IRS, and good for him that he got away with it.
The entire concept of prosecuting someone for frivolous FOIA requests guts the entire FOI Act itself. You do not have to give a reason for your request, you do not even have to have a reason. The entire concept is that public records are public and subject to public inspection for any, or no, reason.
I say we should charge the prosecutor here with subversion of justice and contempt for law.
It is too bad the FOIA doesn’t proscribe harsh penalties for government representatives who work to subvert it.