Wesley Snipes is all set to star in a new movie, Inmate 57.  I kid, I kid. His number is probably much higher than that.  I was just being humorous.

Wesley Snipes must begin his three-year prison sentence for failing to pay taxes before the holidays as originally ordered, and not afterward as the actor had requested.
Snipes asked a judge if he could surrender on Jan. 6 in Pennsylvania instead of on Thursday. The motion says Snipes has four young children and the “surrender date is in the middle of the holiday season.”
But a Florida judge denied his request Monday. The judge wrote that Snipes had plenty of time to prepare “for the impact that his incarceration will have upon members of his family” since he was sentenced more than two years ago. [Yahoo]

Long story short, Snipes says he was misled by his financial advisors (you can see him explain as much during his appearance on Larry King below).  Other fun trivia: TV Judge Joe Brown testified as a character witness on Snipes’ behalf at his sentencing hearing — a legal strategy I like to call “always bet on black” (sorry, had to shoehorn that in there somehow).  Meanwhile, Forbes suggests that the real story is that Snipes is part of a radical anti-tax group, and that the government is trying to make an example out of him:

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Wesley Snipes was sentenced to three years in jail for tax evasion last year, but has since been free on bail pending an appeal. Sadly, he recently got caught leaving the country to go to “the party of the century” in Dubai, and a federal judge has revoked his passport.

Government lawyers argue that Snipes, 46, made an “unauthorized” trip last November to the United Arab Emirates for the star-studded opening of the $1.5 billion Atlantis, The Palm Hotel. As a result of the Dubai trip, a federal judge in Florida ordered Snipes to surrender his passport. Prosecutors apparently only learned of Snipes’s travel to Dubai when paparazzi photos from the hotel opening were published.
Last week he sought permission to travel to Italy for 14 weeks to film “Game of Death.” He also wants to spend two weeks in Namibia for reshoots on “Gallowwalker.” In opposing Snipes’s travel requests, federal prosecutors also noted that Namibia “has become known as a haven for international fugitives.”

Ouch.  That seems like an unnecessary dig.  I bet the prosecutor just wanted to stand up in court and say, “Wesley Snipes is… INTERNATIONAL FUGITIVE.“  And then the Defense could stand up and be all like, “Your honor? ALWAYS BET ON BLACK.”