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December 13, 2007
Subpoenas for Sharpeton Aides
Rick Moran
Can it be true? Are the feds finally going to corner and capture that slippery fish of a political gadfly Al Sharpton?
I'll believe it when I see it. But this time, they have the IRS on his tail:
Several employees of Sharpton's National Action Network also got wakeup subpoenas to testify before the Brooklyn panel, the rabble-rousing reverend's lawyer said.
The FBI and IRS are investigating whether Sharpton improperly misstated the amount of money he raised during his 2004 White House run to illegally obtain federal matching funds, a source familiar with the probe said. Sharpton, although forced to return $100,000 in matching taxpayer funds after an investigation two years ago, denied any wrongdoing at the time.
The feds are also looking into allegations of tax fraud, including whether Sharpton commingled funds from his nonprofit National Action Network with several of his for-profit ventures, the source said.
Lawyer Michael Hardy shrugged off the probe, which sought a vast array of business, political and personal records, as a federal fishing expedition. "I can't think of a time when the Rev. Sharpton wasn't under investigation," he said. That last quote by his attorney is revealing. Sharpton's non profit group, the National Action Network, was called by The Village Voice a sham, a cardboard cutout of a social organization that apparently ran a fake voter registration campaign as it’s only obvious activity.
Sharpton has stiffed so many vendors over the years that it's beyond belief. That Village Voice article mentions owing more than $460,000 to businesses around the country for his failed 2004 campaign. And NAN is regularly cited for not paying its bills as well.
I say good luck to the feds if they can unravel his financial story. He has over the years intermixed his professional, personal, and political monies that trying to seperate them should prove to be next to impossible.
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