NEW YORK, May 9, 2008
Al Sharpton Under Fire
Sharpton Owes $1.5 Million In Overdue Taxes; U.S. Attorney, IRS, FBI Probe Agitator's Finances
-
Photo
Al Sharpton and his business and non-profit groups owe almost $1.5 million in overdue taxes. The IRS, FBI and U.S. Attorney are looking into Sharpton's finances. (AP Photo/Kita Wright)
-
Interactive
Civil Rights In America
A look back at the key people and events of the civil rights movement.
The Rev. Al Sharpton has emerged over the past decade as perhaps the nation's most prominent civil rights leader, a status that was demonstrated again this week when he led protests against police brutality that briefly shut down six of Manhattan's major bridges and tunnels.
But he still carries baggage from his early days as a fire-breathing agitator: Government records obtained by The Associated Press indicate that Sharpton and his business entities owe nearly $1.5 million in overdue taxes and associated penalties.
Now, the U.S. attorney is investigating his nonprofit group, a probe that an undeterred Sharpton brushes off as the kind of annoyance that civil rights figures have come to expect from the government.
"Whatever retaliation they do on me, we never stop," he told the AP. "I think that that is why they try to intimidate us."
Over the past year, Sharpton's lawyers and the staff of his nonprofit group, the National Action Network, have been negotiating with the federal government over the size of his debt, which they dispute. The group has also been trying to pay off tens of thousands of dollars it owes for failing to properly maintain workers compensation and unemployment insurance.
Charlie King, the organization's interim executive director, said both Sharpton and the group he leads were unprepared for their rise in stature in recent years and had trouble dealing with big jumps in donations and income.
"The infrastructure was trying to keep up with that pace, and it was not a perfect fit," he told the AP on Friday. "The National Action Network may not have been perfect, but nothing was going on that was untoward."
He said the organization has new accountants and a new administrative team, and the group recently finally filed long-overdue tax returns.
Sharpton's own debts include $365,558 owed in New York City income tax and $931,397 in unpaid federal income tax, according to a lien filed by the Internal Revenue Service last spring. His for-profit company, Rev. Al Communications, owes the state another $175,962 in delinquent taxes.
As for Sharpton's personal tax debt, King said Sharpton has started paying it off but contends that faulty record-keeping by the National Action Network led the government to overestimate his tax liability.
Tax headaches are nothing new for Sharpton. The 53-year-old minister has been assailed over his career for running up big tax debts and failing to abide by rules governing his charities and election committees. He is perpetually being sued for failing to pay his bills.
In December, Sharpton revealed that as many as 10 of his associates had received grand jury subpoenas. A person familiar with the investigation told the AP that the FBI and IRS are probing whether Sharpton or his organization committed tax crimes or violations related to his 2004 presidential campaign, during which he was forced to return public matching funds for breaking fundraising rules.
If any of this worries Sharpton, you'd never know it. He is pressing ahead with his latest campaign - an effort to persuade the Justice Department to bring civil rights charges against New York City police detectives who fired 50 shots and killed an unarmed groom as he left his bachelor party.
Over the past few weeks, Sharpton has kept a high profile, promising to lead weekly demonstrations until new charges are brought against police detectives acquitted of manslaughter April 25 in the November 2006 death of Sean Bell.
"He is as focused as ever," said Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, a Queens Democrat who has also rallied for police reforms since the Bell case. "He is probably more effective now than he was in the past, than he has ever been."
Sharpton was arrested and spent a few hours in jail Wednesday for being among the marchers who blocked the Brooklyn Bridge to protest the verdict.
On Thursday, Sharpton said he may soon add another cause - the case of three shooting suspects who appeared to have been beaten and kicked by police during an arrest in Philadelphia.
Sharpton has been investigated before, and always walked away clean.
In 1990, he was acquitted of tax fraud and charges that he stole from one of his charities. He followed that up with what was essentially another victory in a tax case by pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file a state return.
In the latest probe, the official overseeing the investigation is U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell - the same Brooklyn-based prosecutor whom Sharpton is urging to file criminal charges in the Bell shooting. Campbell's office has said it is reviewing the case but declined to comment further.
Sharpton's reputation has undergone a remarkable renaissance since the Tawana Brawley days in 1987, when he was accused of helping create a hoax in which the 15-year-old girl claimed she had been kidnapped and raped by a gang of whites that included a police officer and a prosecutor. A grand jury concluded that Brawley made the story up.
Since the late 1990s, his civil rights group has grown from a small outfit, with a few hundred thousand dollars in annual revenue, to an organization that now routinely takes in $1 million to $2 million per year, thanks partly to corporate support.
Donors have included beer giant Anheuser-Busch, which gave more than $100,000 last year, and Forest City Ratner, a real estate development company that courted black leaders for support of a plan to build an NBA arena in Brooklyn. PepsiCo, for several years, gave Sharpton a compensated position on one of its advisory boards.
The group also enjoys financial support from the state's top politicians.
New York Gov. David Paterson has transferred at least $28,000 from his own re-election committee to the National Action Network since 2001. Rep. Charles Rangel, a top Democrat in Congress, has been another major backer, giving at least $83,000. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has given $10,000.
"Everybody who runs for office in the Democratic Party wants to meet with him," said former Mayor Ed Koch, who once battled Sharpton but now calls him a friend and a "bona fide leader."
Koch said Sharpton's past will always be an issue with some whites, and he disagreed with the decision to engage in civil disobedience over the Bell case. But the former mayor believes the respect Sharpton enjoys among blacks is well earned.
"He is willing to go to jail for them," Koch said. "And he is there when they need him."
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Video and Galleries from
-
Video
60 Minutes, 07.12.09
-
Video
'Thanks USA'
-
Video
Eating-In Replaces Eating-Out
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 57 CommentsYou''d think with all his donations and fees that he''d be able to hire someone capable of filing the proper tax returns he needs done. Oh well..just blame someone else. It''s the American way!
Isn''t that what another sharp dresser named Al said? Capone, I think it was.
-------------------------------
"He is willing to go to jail for them," Koch said. "And he is there when they need him."
-----------------------------
I have a dream! This convicted felon, self-professed lawbreaker and race-baiting scumbag will go to jail and stay there for when his people need him. I have a dream!
In Brooklyn, where we both hail from, "Reverends" without a church are more commonly referred to as pimps.
I don''t despise Sharpton for lining his pockets with all the money he rakes off by not paying the bills of anyone foolish enough to do business with him or his various "charitable organizations." I''m sure there are others who are just as bad or worse in their cynical, money grubbing, power grabbing scams.
I don''t even despise him for the Tawana Brawley hoax; for all that that exercise e cost the city and the nation in wasted taxpayer dollars and increased racial mistrust. Come to think of it, he never paid the people who successfully sued him over that one.
I have despised him since he had the gall to publicly compare himself with a REAL civil rights leader like Dr. Martin Luther King when he first had trouble over his taxes. %u201COh yeah%u2026they tried the same thing with Martin when he was helping his people like I%u2019m trying to help them%u201D
His people? Gimmeabreak!
In Sharpton''s sordid case, such a comparison%u2019s no crime...it''s a sin. Sharpton and a thousand like him wouldn''t make a pimple on Dr. King''s dead a$$.
But he still carries baggage from his early days as a fire-breathing agitator: Government records obtained by The Associated Press indicate that Sharpton and his business entities owe nearly $1.5 million in overdue taxes and associated penalties.
Yes the more & more you hear about Reverend Al the more he resembles a page out of the Clinton playbook. Friends of ex-gov Spitzer, amasses huge fortunes from scheming enterprizes, & contributions. Plays the blame game whenever it benefits him. Threatens to incite & riot if he does get his way. Another fine example of what 35 years of experience in Washington has accomplished. Status quo - negative polictics of personal disception. Time for him to pay his tax bills. Al, don''t be so elite & out of touch you''re no better than the rest of us. Irregardless of what the Clintons have been telling you.
It is time for them to go and get Barack to doing the work of the American People. We need a breath of fresh air & flavor on State Street.
The truth we must someday all see is that not until every minority child has healthcare and educational opportunities will every white child have those same basics guaranteed to them. What we offer the least we guarantee for ourselves. Racism truly is a tool used by the rich against the rest of us in this great American class struggle.
I can see and even agree with some of what tyiou are saying but i think you are looking at it from one side. I think children should all have health and educational benefits, but i think that the black community needs to work and do its share to make that happen as well. Sharpton only keeps the racial hatred going between whites and blacks. He makes no qualms about hating whites. This is not the leadership that th black commuinity needs. Whites do not respect sharpton or listen him seriopulsly. He ios considered a maggot making money off his owm people. He only shows up when a situation presents an opportunity for him to make a financial gain. Just like in the bell shooting. He showed up to make a buck and it wasn'';t even a racial issue.
I agree, it would be a tough choice to make which one to hate the most.
Rev. Al, Christians are to promote Christianity (neither Jew nor Gentile...). Read your Bible brother! You''ve been lacking for years. You sold out to promoting worldly causes, mainly socialism. Why would any black person stand with you unless they were racist as well?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Maybe it''s just his turn. Personally, I would have kept a lower profile if I had this tax debt. He claims it is a racial thing, well, he owes the money and yes, he is black; however, Willie Nelson owed the money and he was white. Wow, maybe it isn''t racial after all.
As for the past, if people can give a reasoned discussion for why they change opinions, and live by them, or at least struggle with a mental illness for the betterment of themselves and society, they''re worth giving a chance. But I don''t exactly understand why Sharpton''s racist past or whatever has to do with not paying taxes, please forgive me. As has been said, others got caught not paying taxes (Willie Nelson), so to use the "race card" as an excuse is, simply put, pathetic.
"He is willing to go to jail for them," Koch said. "And he is there when they need him.''
LOL - if he goes to jail it''ll be for nothing that would (or at least should) engender respect from blacks. And he''ll be screaming racism all the way to the hoosegow...
Posted by shanev137
Is it the part that causes typhoons, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, wild fires, meteor showers, tsunamis, lightening and plagues?
Posted by excoachken at 06:38 AM : May 10, 200
your blood pressure must be skyhigh if you think everything in life is some sort of conspiracy.....calm down and enjoy life
Posted by jamesm12341 at 09:09 AM : May 10, 2008
You''d think with theis guys record of tax-evasions, that the IRS would have already put him in prison.
Now he''s claiming his tax problems are "retaliation." He couldn''t be at fault. Oh no. "Got to be someone or something I can blame!"
He knows that it plays well in the black community.
"You go tell him, Reverend. Whitey is always picking on the poor, innocent black man. They dragged us here in chains from Africa many years ago & we''re stillin chains!"
Shame, shame on our government and shame shame on Al Sharpton.
First, he has the tax cases over his head if he gets out of line...next he has the money and support from corporations and their political flunkies...he has publicity from the propaganda apparatus--CBSNBCCNNABCFOXPBS--and up he pops like Jessie Jackson all over the place to take control of situations that might get out of hand.
The Tawana Brawley case did not need a grand jury to confirm that it was a blatant fraud. Al dances away...In Durham this b*stard shows up again in the corner of a lying who.re to create racial unrest with another fantasy island tale of rape by whites (The dumb animals in Durham just elected former prosecutor Mike Nifong''s closest ally in the Durham/Duke LaCrosse Affair to replace him as Prosecutor--because she was black. She was as dirty as he was in this.)
He goes somewhere...he does have a presence...and creates tension and focuses attention on himself with the help of the media...It takes peoples minds off of more important things....like Iraq...like Afghanistan...like corruption...like the murder of a Houston CIA agent...like the silencing of Ms. Palfrey...like the tons on dope found on CIA drug and rendition planes captured in Mexico and Central America...
Notice how Hillary blames OPEC for high fuel prices...but right over the border in Mexico, diesel was being sold for $2 a gallon--and it was coming from a refinery in the US!!!
The Rockefeller family is synonomous with Oil and Usury--they have three candidates in the race...Obama, Clinton and McCain...George Soros backs all three as well...
Notice how all three candidates shy away from addressing the rising police violence against the people...notice how they all are backed by huge corporate interests that benefit from a complete lack of meaningful change.
The Oligarchy is fighting a multi-front class war against you! If you don''t wake up and fight back we are going to lose this war and fall under the sway of a tyranny as bad or worse than that of Stalin, Hitler or Mao.
Even if all what you say were true, the man is still free...
What happened to if you do the crime, you do the time?
Many Americans are doing time for lesser violations than this blowhard who teaches his people hate and discrimination and unrest.
If the young man in New York had not been in a car trying to run over a policeman, he might still be alive!
If the idiots in Phila had not been out involved in a shooting, they wouldn''t have gotten beaten when they tried to resist officers.
When will people stop making excuses for criminals?
We have no results of any paraffin test, if one was evening taken, to suggest that they were even involved in a shooting. Why not? We have no guns to suggest that they were involved in a shooting. Why not?
There was no excuse for the police to let the suspects get into an automobile where they might have had a weapon when the police officer alleged that he heard one of them being instructed to ''get his gun''.
There is testimony that the officer placed his leg on the hood of the car and was looking into it...other testimony is that the passenger, after the police started firing told the driver to get out of here because they were trying to kill us all.
These people were scum...but they did their time and Mr. Bell didn''t deserve to be murdered.
You''re exactly right! The Clintons amassed a fortune of 110,000,000 dollars that was reported, playing the race card. Had the support of the Reverend Al & other Blacks & Whites who got richer along the way. Then they left us in a cloud of dust as they scurried out ot town.
All the members had to do was play along with the party & get the voters out for them when these Old Guard Racist needed to be reelected. Pretty slick trick! Guaranteed to work all the time....until maybe now. When the truth is starting to come out. Together we can change that.
Black working-class female who can speak for herself. The media (liberal, conservative, and moderate) needs to understand that being Black does not automatically mean that we are monolithic in our thought patterns and the way we see things. We are a very diverse group of people just like every other segment of American society!
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 57 Comments