Biggest Celebrity Money Issues (so Far) in 2008
Money.
No matter how much you have, you always want more.
While money is an important asset for anyone to own to have a comfortable live, it can just as easily turn around and cause nothing but trouble.
So far 2008 has seen its fair share of celebrity money issues.
From tax evasion and laundering to incomplete wills, we've seen that while money can't buy happiness, it can certainly cause headaches.
How (not) to evade taxes Evading taxes is no new feat for those with money.
Whether it's athletes forgetting that they have to pay taxes on bonuses, or reality television winners forgetting to pay taxes on their $1 million prize, governments keep a close eye on celebrity tax returns and bank accounts in order to make sure they get every penny they can.
In late 2006, the United States government charged superstar actor Wesley Snipes with tax fraud and evasion of taxes-charges which could have resulted in 16 years behind bars.
Thankfully for Wesley the charges of fraud were dropped, leaving only tax evasion charges.
According to reports and the United States government, Snipes failed to pay any taxes on money earned from the two Blade sequels.
Whoops.
The willful non-payment earned Snipes a 36 month sentence in the slammer, which lasted for about a week before a judge gave Snipes the okay to head to London and Bangkok to film some movies to help pay his back taxes off.
"That's not tax evasion.
Now that's tax evasion!" Onetime "World's Most Famous Australian" Paul Hogan has also been in trouble for evading taxes this year.
Unlike Wesley, he managed to evade the tax evasion charges (for now, at least).
The actor, currently living in the US, has a warrant for his arrest back home in Australia.
That doesn't worry Crocodile Dundee, though.
"I'll be arrested the minute I land on the shore, of course, but I have a gun; so be warned,'' he joked.
Heeeeeeere's a foreclosure on a celebrity's home! Er, Johnny! Ed McMahon, comedy legend and sidekick for more than three decades to the incomparable Johnny Carson, has been having trouble with his finances since the early part of this century.
With numerous divorces and other settlements as well as health issues preventing him from working, the McMahon fortune (which has falsely been listed as over $200 million in the 90s; Ed never had near that amount) has dwindled, resulting in television's most prominent sidekick struggling to keep his home.
In June of this year Ed appeared on Larry King, telling his longtime friend he was still more than half a million behind his mortgage payments, and perilously close to losing his home in Beverly Hills.
Why wait until old age to go broke? With all of the cautious tales of celebrities going broke and losing their homes, you would think the younger generation would take notice, right? Wrong.
Late last year, Ed McMahon's neighbor and Star Search discoverey Britney Spears was reported to have been spending nearly 100% of her income each month, without putting any in savings for her or her children.
That alone would be more than enough for Britney to make the cut, but it gets worse for the former Mouseketeer.
Due to her rather...
lucrative spending, and mental health problems a court assigned her father Jamie, as a conservator (at his behest, of course) giving him full financial control to help get her finances back on track.
The result so far in 2008? He's already sold several of her more prized vehicles, and soon he'll be putting her studio home on the market.
Maybe that will teach her to better manage her fortune.
When boyfriends go bad Anne Hathaway made international news this year, but not for what she did-rather who.
Her boyfriend of three years--29-year-old Italian businessman Raffaello Follieri-was arrested for allegedly conning a group of real estate investors by posing as an agent of the Vatican, and then falsely promising them he could get them Catholic land cheap.
Obviously that was a lie, and instead Raffaello lived it up in Manhattan, raking in over $6 million in fraudulent money.
Bail for Follieri was set at a stiff $21 million due to his likelihood to flee home to Italy if he got out from behind bars.
To her credit, Anne Hathaway showed that the class she's displayed for years isn't just an act, as friends are telling reporters she cooperated with the FBI during their entire investigation.
So if you're a conman with a chance to date Miss Hathaway, remember: don't! About time someone got arrested for boy-bands The man responsible for unleashing the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC on the world-Lou Pearlman-was arrested for lying to financers and cheating investors out of $300 million.
(Not, as we had originally hoped, for making the BSB and NSYNC famous.
) In an unusual deal, the judge sentenced the 53-year-old music mogul to 300 months in prison, with the stipulation that he can reduce a month of his sentence for every million he pays back to investors.
Now we just need to see if any of the still-successful members of the boy-band era will be willing to help their former manager out.
On second though, we're pretty sure all of them except Justin Timberlake could use some money themselves.
Not a joking matter The final on our list of Biggest Celebrity Money Issues (so far) in 2008 is a sad story, and a somber reminder to all of us to not procrastinate on the important things.
Months ago, actor Heath Ledger passed away after completing filming of The Dark Knight.
It was learned a short while ago that before passing away, Ledger hadn't updated his will since 2003-in other words, since before his daughter was born.
What this means is that pending a hearing or action by whatever state laws his will is under jurisdiction of, Ledger's young daughter has no right to inherent any part of her father's money.
Remember, folks: don't keep putting things like that off, because you never know when it will be needed.
No matter how much you have, you always want more.
While money is an important asset for anyone to own to have a comfortable live, it can just as easily turn around and cause nothing but trouble.
So far 2008 has seen its fair share of celebrity money issues.
From tax evasion and laundering to incomplete wills, we've seen that while money can't buy happiness, it can certainly cause headaches.
How (not) to evade taxes Evading taxes is no new feat for those with money.
Whether it's athletes forgetting that they have to pay taxes on bonuses, or reality television winners forgetting to pay taxes on their $1 million prize, governments keep a close eye on celebrity tax returns and bank accounts in order to make sure they get every penny they can.
In late 2006, the United States government charged superstar actor Wesley Snipes with tax fraud and evasion of taxes-charges which could have resulted in 16 years behind bars.
Thankfully for Wesley the charges of fraud were dropped, leaving only tax evasion charges.
According to reports and the United States government, Snipes failed to pay any taxes on money earned from the two Blade sequels.
Whoops.
The willful non-payment earned Snipes a 36 month sentence in the slammer, which lasted for about a week before a judge gave Snipes the okay to head to London and Bangkok to film some movies to help pay his back taxes off.
"That's not tax evasion.
Now that's tax evasion!" Onetime "World's Most Famous Australian" Paul Hogan has also been in trouble for evading taxes this year.
Unlike Wesley, he managed to evade the tax evasion charges (for now, at least).
The actor, currently living in the US, has a warrant for his arrest back home in Australia.
That doesn't worry Crocodile Dundee, though.
"I'll be arrested the minute I land on the shore, of course, but I have a gun; so be warned,'' he joked.
Heeeeeeere's a foreclosure on a celebrity's home! Er, Johnny! Ed McMahon, comedy legend and sidekick for more than three decades to the incomparable Johnny Carson, has been having trouble with his finances since the early part of this century.
With numerous divorces and other settlements as well as health issues preventing him from working, the McMahon fortune (which has falsely been listed as over $200 million in the 90s; Ed never had near that amount) has dwindled, resulting in television's most prominent sidekick struggling to keep his home.
In June of this year Ed appeared on Larry King, telling his longtime friend he was still more than half a million behind his mortgage payments, and perilously close to losing his home in Beverly Hills.
Why wait until old age to go broke? With all of the cautious tales of celebrities going broke and losing their homes, you would think the younger generation would take notice, right? Wrong.
Late last year, Ed McMahon's neighbor and Star Search discoverey Britney Spears was reported to have been spending nearly 100% of her income each month, without putting any in savings for her or her children.
That alone would be more than enough for Britney to make the cut, but it gets worse for the former Mouseketeer.
Due to her rather...
lucrative spending, and mental health problems a court assigned her father Jamie, as a conservator (at his behest, of course) giving him full financial control to help get her finances back on track.
The result so far in 2008? He's already sold several of her more prized vehicles, and soon he'll be putting her studio home on the market.
Maybe that will teach her to better manage her fortune.
When boyfriends go bad Anne Hathaway made international news this year, but not for what she did-rather who.
Her boyfriend of three years--29-year-old Italian businessman Raffaello Follieri-was arrested for allegedly conning a group of real estate investors by posing as an agent of the Vatican, and then falsely promising them he could get them Catholic land cheap.
Obviously that was a lie, and instead Raffaello lived it up in Manhattan, raking in over $6 million in fraudulent money.
Bail for Follieri was set at a stiff $21 million due to his likelihood to flee home to Italy if he got out from behind bars.
To her credit, Anne Hathaway showed that the class she's displayed for years isn't just an act, as friends are telling reporters she cooperated with the FBI during their entire investigation.
So if you're a conman with a chance to date Miss Hathaway, remember: don't! About time someone got arrested for boy-bands The man responsible for unleashing the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC on the world-Lou Pearlman-was arrested for lying to financers and cheating investors out of $300 million.
(Not, as we had originally hoped, for making the BSB and NSYNC famous.
) In an unusual deal, the judge sentenced the 53-year-old music mogul to 300 months in prison, with the stipulation that he can reduce a month of his sentence for every million he pays back to investors.
Now we just need to see if any of the still-successful members of the boy-band era will be willing to help their former manager out.
On second though, we're pretty sure all of them except Justin Timberlake could use some money themselves.
Not a joking matter The final on our list of Biggest Celebrity Money Issues (so far) in 2008 is a sad story, and a somber reminder to all of us to not procrastinate on the important things.
Months ago, actor Heath Ledger passed away after completing filming of The Dark Knight.
It was learned a short while ago that before passing away, Ledger hadn't updated his will since 2003-in other words, since before his daughter was born.
What this means is that pending a hearing or action by whatever state laws his will is under jurisdiction of, Ledger's young daughter has no right to inherent any part of her father's money.
Remember, folks: don't keep putting things like that off, because you never know when it will be needed.