The Rev. Al Sharpton’s troubled charity, the National Action Network, has dodged scrutiny paid other nonprofits — despite paying him $1 million last year — thanks to his political clout, insiders and experts say.
“There are certain things that are universally true in New York: the sun rises in the east, it sets in the west, the subway is late and no one wants to pick a fight with Al Sharpton,” said one top Democratic insider. “Where’s the political benefit to doing it?”
Sharpton’s teflon provides a sharp contrast to the vigorous investigations state Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance mounted against President Trump, including his troubled charity.
James and two of her predecessors pursued litigation against Trump for self-dealing, including billing his own Donald J. Trump Foundation $10,000 for his portrait.
A Manhattan judge ordered that Trump pay $2 million in damages in the case.
Meanwhile, Vance is pursuing Trump’s tax returns in court.
Representatives for James and Vance declined to comment.
“Cy Vance is staring down the fight of his life and Tish James isn’t about to put the screws to the most prominent social justice activist in the country,” said another Democratic insider.
The Reverend’s streak of luck stretches back years.
In July 2008 prosecutors dropped a criminal probe of Sharpton and NAN after he agreed to pay off millions in tax liens.
The reverend’s attorney, Zachary Carter, once lead the US attorney’s office in Brooklyn that started the investigation.
A 2010 internal audit of NAN’s books questioned the group’s ability to survive given its mismanagement.
The accounting firm KBL said then it was “unable to form an opinion” on the accuracy of NAN’s finances “because of inadequacies in the organization’s accounting records.”
Since then the New York Times has reported on Sharpton’s still-delinquent taxes and The New York Post has written a series of articles detailing irregularities at NAN.
Sharpton also cashed in on his charity by making it pay $531,000 to buy the rights to his life story.
Ashley Post with the nonprofit giving guide Charity Navigator said her group issued a “low concern advisory against the National Action Network based on” The Post’s reporting.
“The National Action Network is a 501(c)(4) organization, which means that donations to the charity are not guaranteed to be tax-deductible based on the charity’s nature and activities. Organizations that are not tax-deductible may not be subject to the same level of general, public scrutiny,” Post added.
Sharpton has justified his sky-high salary by saying he works six days a week for NAN and the sale for rights to his life story by claiming it will provide a revenue stream for the charity.
A spokeswoman previously said the charity’s finances improved after the audit.
“What do you mean we weren’t scrutinized? We were audited four years in a row,” Sharpton told The Post. “No one ever said we weren’t doing civil rights work, which is our mission. No one ever said we don’t fight for our causes.”
He added: “What’s the charge? You can’t fabricate stuff. What you’re trying to do is silence people.”