People News

Stephen Baldwin arrested over 350k tax bill

Dec 6, 2012, 23:01 GMT

Stephen Baldwin

Stephen Baldwin has been arrested over an alleged unpaid $350,000 tax bill.

The 46-year-old actor is accused of failing to pay income tax in Rockland County, 15 miles northwest of Manhattan, for the years 2008, 2009 and 2010 and was bailed pending a February 2013 court appearance.

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe told the New York Daily News: 'At a time when Rockland County and New York State face severe fiscal shortfalls, we cannot afford to allow wealthy residents to break the law by cheating on their taxes.

'The defendant's repetitive failure to file returns and pay taxes over a period of several years contributes to the sweeping cutbacks and closures in local government and in our schools.'

The arrest comes six months after a court rejected born-again Christian Stephen's claim that he and a friend missed out on a lucrative contract with oil company BP thanks to Kevin Costner and his business partner in oil cleanup, Patrick Smith.

Stephen and co-plaintiff Spyridon Contogouris, were asking for at least $17 million in damages at federal court in New Orleans, however were awarded nothing.

In the wake of the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, 'The Bodyguard' actor offered BP the services of a device he had helped develop, and BP contracted to buy 32 of the oil-and-water-separating centrifuges in the summer of 2010.

'The Flinstones in Viva Rock Vegas' star Stephen, an early investor in Stephen's Ocean Therapy Solutions, sold his shares before the deal went through-and was demanding the sum to fill the hole left by the money he said he could have made if he had known they were on the verge of a lucrative transaction.