Is Al Sharpton’s Shady Career Finally Over?
by Jeff Davis
Have years of corruption and wheeling-dealing finally caught up with the disgraceful “Reverend” Al Sharpton, of Tawana Brawley fame?
The New York Daily News reports: “The Rev. Al Sharpton’s finances are (the) target of a federal probe. Teams of federal agents swooped down on up to 10 close associates of the Rev. Al Sharpton Wednesday, demanding the flamboyant clergyman’s financial records since 2001. As many as 10 people were subpoenaed, Redding said. The court papers also sought a wide range of financial records, from invoices of expenses paid by cash to cash receipts to bad debt records from the years 2001 to 2007.”
Note that Sharpton has his financial records dispersed between about ten people. Not too dumb. That way not one single individual knows what the other nine are doing. Sharpton must have a Jewish accountant giving him advice.
The Daily News reports “Sharpton’s former chief of staff said he was roused at his Harlem home about 6:30 a.m. by two FBI agents who handed him a subpoena to bring the records to a federal grand jury the day after Christmas. 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 do seem to be really coming after Sharpton, and they’re leaking loads of information to the media about it. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that the FBI got Sharpton on tape: “Sharpton offered to help Philadelphia fund-raiser Ronald A. White win a multimillion-dollar business deal, if White helped him raise $50,000 for politics. White offered $25,000. ‘If you bring my guys up on this hedge fund, and I have the right conversation,’ White said, ‘I’ll give you what you need…’ ‘Cool,’ Sharpton said….The Inquirer obtained an account of the May 9, 2003, conversation, which was recorded as part of the Philadelphia City Hall corruption case. The tape helped spark a separate inquiry into Sharpton’s 2004 campaign and his civil-rights organization, the National Action Network. The FBI-IRS probe resurfaced publicly Wednesday, when Sharpton aides received subpoenas.”
The thing is, that tape has been around since 2003 so why is it mysteriously re-surfacing now? Is the Bush administration legally picking off some of the more annoying leftists and minority agitators while they’re still in power? Bill Clinton had hundreds of conservative, right-wing organizations audited. Not a single leftist, liberal organization was audited. Our two party system seems to be getting more bitter, vindictive and ruthless every year.
Another liberal in trouble is civil rights lawyer Steven Yagman. One news article reports “Five months after being convicted in federal court on multiple tax violations, Venice civil rights attorney Stephen Yagman was sentenced to three years in federal prison Tuesday, November 27th, in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. The United States Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, had pushed for a jail term of nine years in prison… United States attorney Thomas P. O’Brien said, “As an attorney, Mr. Yagman had a duty to play by the rules. He failed to live up to this responsibility, and now he is a convicted felon. Mr. Yagman attempted to compromise the integrity of our tax system and the bankruptcy courts, and for this he will spend the next several years of his life behind bars.”
The same article notes “Wilson dismissed six of the money laundering counts the government had filed against Yagman. The civil rights lawyer, who forged a successful career winning civil verdicts against various local law enforcement agencies, was convicted June 22nd on 19 felony counts, including one count of attempting to evade the payment of taxes, one count of bankruptcy fraud and 17 counts of money laundering.”
Sharpton is a loud-mouthed agitator, who has been involved in two cases involving false rape accusations against white men by black women. They’ve got this blackish candidate Barack Obama running against The Anointed Hillary in the primaries, and Obama just got quite a shot in the arm from being endorsed by the tubby negress Oprah Winfrey. I wonder if this could be a case of someone high in the Democratic hierarchy deciding to legally crush Sharpton and remove him as a force in the election. The fact is that Sharpton is seen as a major influence among black voters in New York City. The primary looks like it’s going to be close.
Are these long overdue prosecutions of liberal crooks or is there a deliberate effort being made to throw certain types of political activists in jail? Only time will tell.