Hollywood superstar Wesley Snipes will be going to jail for evading taxes after losing his final appeal.

The actor was sentenced in 2008 for dodging $15 million in taxes, when it emerged he’d tried to hide money in the Isle of Man.

The 47 year-old star of movies such as Blade and White Men Can’t Jump had denied the allegations, but a Florida court convicted him and said his crimes were so serious the maximum jail term would be imposed.

Now, a court of appeal has confirmed that sentence, after rejecting arguments from his lawyers that it was unreasonable.

Snipes was convicted of three counts of failing to file tax returns from 1999 to 2001 but was acquitted of felony fraud and conspiracy charges.

A court in Atlanta heard character references from fellow stars Denzel Washington and Woody Harrelson who paid tribute to the actor and asked he be spared prison.

But prosecuting attorney Robert O’Neill said Snipes was a notorious tax protester who’d deliberately tried to avoid paying, sending money to accounts in the Isle of Man and Switzerland.

US District Court judge William Terrell Hodges said the sentence was reasonable after hearing arguments Snipes had combined brazen defiance with insidious concealment.