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Con Man Al Sharpton owes overdue taxes, other penalties
Con Man Al Sharpton owes overdue taxes, other penalties
* ap.google . com /article/ALeqM5jZA6sc_14O4agthuje91acQjpgJwD90IE1201
NEW YORK (AP) — Big corporations give him money. Presidential candidates
seek his endorsement. He has influential friends in Congress and the
governor's mansion. 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."
* ap.google . com /article/ALeqM5jZA6sc_14O4agthuje91acQjpgJwD90IE1201
NEW YORK (AP) — Big corporations give him money. Presidential candidates
seek his endorsement. He has influential friends in Congress and the
governor's mansion. 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."
