Shout The Accusation, Whisper The Exoneration
Posted by Phoenix Woman on July 23, 2008
Yet another attempt to nail Al Sharpton has fizzled:
Federal prosecutors have disbanded their criminal investigation into the financial dealings of the Rev. Al Sharpton and his Harlem civil rights group, the minister and his lawyers said Tuesday.
Prosecutors concluded that Sharpton’s substantial tax problems were better handled as a civil matter by the Internal Revenue Service rather than in criminal court, his lawyers said.
Now, he could still get hosed. But he’s been down this road before and come up trumps:
The investigation was the latest in a string of government inquiries into Sharpton’s finances, dating to his earliest days as a civil rights figure.
Each time, he has emerged unscathed. In the late 1980s he was acquitted of stealing from a nonprofit group. A state case accusing him of evading income taxes also fizzled; he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of failing to file a tax return and paid a small fine.
Funny how this didn’t make the evening news, whereas the initial investigation announcement did.
