Sharpton, Al

Born in Brooklyn, NY in Oct 1954, to relatively prosperous parents. He demonstrated considerable verbal dexterity at an early age and began preaching when he was 4 yrs old. He was touted as “the wonder-boy preacher” by age 7, when he toured with gospel singer Mahalia Jackson and Pentecostal minister F.D. Washington. In 1971, Sharpton established the National Youth Movement, an organization that sought to organize young African Americans to push for increased voter registration, cultural awareness, and job-training programs. He would lead the group for the next 17 years until he was arrested and indicted on charges of stealing at least $250,000 with 67 counts of grand larceny, falsifying business records, and scheming to defraud.

In 1983, Sharpton tried to arrange a cocaine smuggling deal with an undercover FBI agent. He injected himself into the case of a 15-year-old black girl named Tawana Brawley, who claimed that she had been abducted and raped by a gang of six whites. Sharpton fabricated the story and lied about facts and evidence to enhance the hoax, eventually losing a $345,000 court judgment of which he was responsible for $65,000 which he never paid. He also condemned the innocent Duke Lacrosse ‘rapists’ who wereinnocent in another hoax. He later defended a group of black teenagers following the gang-rape of a jogger who was nearly beaten to death in NY’s Central Park, despite the defendants’ graphic and detailed confessions. All five suspects were convicted for their involvement in the crime and were sentenced to prison.

Sharpton has a history of shaking down and extorting corporations for money with boycott threats for affirmative action violations and racial accusations. In April 2009, Sharpton and his NAN were fined $285,000 for having violated election rules during Sharpton’s 2004 presidential bid. According to the Federal Election Commission:

• Sharpton’s campaign illegally accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in extravagant contributions from private sources.
• Sharpton’s campaign “kept poor records of its activities and expenditures” and illegally commingled funds from the nonprofit NAN with his for-profit ventures.
• Sharpton lied to authorities regarding the amount of money he had raised during his 2004 campaign–so as to illegally qualify for federal matching funds.

In September 2012, Sharpton was a guest speaker at the annual fundraising banquet of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), where he called CAIR “one of the most important civil-rights organizations in the United States today.”

As of 2013, Sharpton earned an annual salary of just over $241,000 from the National Action Network (NAN), even while the organization was $1.1 million in debt. His exact MSNBC salary has not been publicly disclosed, but it is believed to be a six-figure sum that exceeds his income from NAN. In 2014, Sharpton was paid a $348,244 salary plus a $64,400 bonus. In 2016, he took in a $250,000 salary plus a $437,555 bonus. And in 2018, his $324,000 salary was augmented by a $159,596 bonus and $563,352 in “other compensation.”

In spite of owing millions in taxes, Sharpton routinely flies first-class to speaking events and stays overnight at expensive, upscale hotels. As Sharpton’s assistant, Abyssinia Tirfe, wrote in an August 14, 2014 e-mail to authorities at Michigan State University, where Sharpton was slated to speak: “In terms of travel, Rev. Sharpton travels first class on flights and will require a large black SUV for transportation and, if the trip requires lodging, he will require a suite in a four/five star hotel. Also, Rev. Sharpton travels with [an] aide who will require [an] economy ticket and a standard hotel room (if needed).”