Wesley Snipes Freed From Jail After Tax Evasion

Actor Wesley Snipes has been released from a US prison where he was serving a three-year sentence for tax evasion.

The White Men Can't Jump star was convicted in 2008 after prosecutors said he failed to file tax returns for at least a decade and owed millions of dollars.

The 50-year-old belonged to a group that challenged the US government's right to collect taxes.

He had appealed in an Atlanta court, saying he didn't get a fair trial.

But Snipes, who starred as a half-human, half-vampire in the Blade trilogy, entered the McKean federal prison in Pennsylvania in December 2010.

Following his release, a Bureau of Corrections spokeswoman said he will be overseen by the New York Community Corrections Office until July 19.

In 2006 Snipes was charged with trying to illegally collect a $7.3m (£4.7m) federal tax refund and failing to file tax returns from 2000 to 2005.

He was convicted two years later of three misdemeanour charges of willful failure to file three federal income tax returns.

At his sentencing, prosecutors said Snipes had earned more than $38m (£24.3m) since 1999, but as of that date, had filed no tax returns and paid no taxes.

On the same day, his lawyers brought cheques totalling $5m (£3m) which they gave