Sharpton's Financial Records Subpoenaed

[Walter Cronkite]

Federal authorities issued subpoenas for financial records of the Rev. Al Sharpton, here in April. Up to 10 Sharpton associates also were ordered to testify before a grand jury Dec. 26 in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Federal authorities subpoenaed financial records and employees in an apparent probe of the Rev. Al Sharpton's 2004 presidential bid, nonprofit civil rights group and for-profit businesses, newspapers reported Thursday.

As many as 10 Sharpton associates were subpoenaed Wednesday to testify before a federal grand jury in Brooklyn on Dec. 26, his lawyer told the Daily News.

"Here we go again," Sharpton, whose various ventures have come under scrutiny before, told the New York Post. "Whatever it is, it's part of the territory. I'm a public figure."

Sharpton's associates were told to provide investigators with financial records from the campaign and roughly six Sharpton-related businesses, as well as personal financial documents of Sharpton and his wife, the newspaper said.

The FBI and Internal Revenue Service are seeking the records, which go back to 2001, according to the Daily News.

A Sharpton spokeswoman did not immediately return phone calls or e-mail messages from The Associated Press early Thursday.

An FBI agent who answered the phone at the agency's New York headquarters declined to comment, and an agency spokesman did not immediately return a telephone message. An IRS spokesman did not immediately return phone calls.

"It was like a sting or a raid," said Carl Redding, Sharpton's chief of staff for eight years during the 1990s. "They converged on everybody."

Redding said FBI agents awoke him at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday with a subpoena to testify and to bring records to the grand jury, but would not tell him the reason for the investigation.

Several staffers from the National Action Network, a Sharpton-led civil rights organization, also got subpoenas to testify, said Sharpton lawyer Michael Hardy. Sharpton himself did not receive a subpoena, the Daily News said.

Sharpton spokesman Charlie King said the minister and the National Action Network were cooperating with the probe. He said he had "zero idea, not a hint" what the authorities were looking for.

"The irony of this is we've been working with a number of government agencies to make sure that we're up to speed on all of our outstanding paperwork," he said.

Hardy was sanguine about the developments. "I can't think of a time when the Rev. Sharpton wasn't under investigation," he said.

Sharpton agreed in 2005 to repay the government $100,000, plus interest, for taxpayer money he received during his failed effort to win the Democratic presidential nomination the year before, though he denied wrongdoing.

The Federal Election Commission had determined that he spent more of his own money on the campaign than the qualifications for federal matching funds allow.

In 1993, Sharpton pleaded guilty to not filing a state income tax return in 1986.

Source: AP

[Flying High]

What did the Reverend do to piss off President Bush and his Haliburton Cartel Administration? The only difference between Bush and Putin is that Putin CAN properly pronounce the word "nuclear". We are living in a country where when you make any commentary on the powers that be, especially if you are a public figure, you are on the enemies list and will be dealt with and will perhaps be sent to the gulag. The Soviet Union fell in the 90s and we took over where they left off.

At least China, another totolatarian state besides the US, can make a toy with lead paint. What can the US manufacture with our non existent manufacturing base service economy? Trumped up charges to start an illegal war? That's about it!! Good luck Reverend Sharpton. You are more of a patriot than any member of congress. At least you care about this country. I think it's too late for us. Boobus America Sleeps!!!