April 12, 2005
WASHINGTON —
The FBI, as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the Rev. Al
Sharpton, secretly videotaped him pocketing campaign donations from two shady
fund-raisers in a New York City hotel room and then asking for more, it was
reported yesterday.
One of the
donors was later recorded on a wiretap saying Sharpton may not have reported to
the Federal Election Commission tens of thousands of dollars in campaign cash,
as is required by the law, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The FBI
launched the probe into Sharpton's fund-raising for his failed 2004
presidential run after his name surfaced on wiretaps in an unrelated
Philadelphia City Hall corruption case, the Inquirer said.
The Post
confirmed the FBI investigation of Sharpton. The two dubious donors whom
Sharpton met with in the hotel on May 9, 2003 — Democratic fund-raisers La-Van
Hawkins and the late Ronald White — suggested that nearly $90,000 was missing
from the official campaign report Sharpton filed with the FEC.
Hawkins is
currently on trial in Philadelphia on corruption charges unrelated to the
Sharpton case; White also was going to be indicted, but he died before charges
could be brought.
An FBI wiretap
picked up Hawkins telling White he believed they had raised more than $140,000
for Sharpton in the previous quarter — but Hawkins fretted because Sharpton had
reported only about $50,000 on his federal election filing.
"He's a
train wreck — a plane crash waiting to happen," Hawkins told White about
Sharpton, according to the paper.
FEC records
show Sharpton reported raising about $54,000 during the period, the second
quarter of 2003.
Sharpton has
denied any wrongdoing.
In the hotel
room, the FBI had videotape secretly rolling as White forked over a wad of
campaign checks to Sharpton. Sharpton demanded $25,000 more, and White promised
he'd try to raise it.
Wiretaps show
that White and Hawkins supported Sharpton because they believed the candidate
could grease the skids in future business deals — primarily a $40 million deal
related to New York City's pension fund.
The feds
learned Hawkins, a Detroit fast-food king, sought to create a fried-chicken
empire financed with millions of dollars invested from the Big Apple pension
fund.
White and
Hawkins wooed Sharpton with the campaign checks to set up a meeting with
Comptroller William Thompson, who controls the pension funds — though nothing
ever came of it. Thompson is not accused of any wrongdoing.
Fearing that
Sharpton and the donors were hatching a plan to defraud the pension fund, the
FBI got clearance for the videotape from a judge.
That angle
proved to be unfounded — but the FBI surveillance uncovered the possible
campaign fund-raising fraud. The precise focus of the FBI probe could not be
learned.
Sharpton told
the Philadelphia paper the allegations were a "politically motivated
smokescreen" to hide the fact the Justice Department is out to get him.
Neither he nor
his lawyer returned phone calls from The Post yesterday.
Sharpton told
the paper that mistakes could have been made by his campaign, but said they
were not deliberate.
"In any
campaign, you have irregularities," he said. "I don't say that it's
not possible there are people in my campaign who have done something."
Sharpton ripped
the federal probe and the secret videotaping of the hotel meeting, saying,
"Can you imagine what would happen if it was a white presidential
candidate?"
With the help
of White and Hawkins, Sharpton collected enough money across the country to
qualify for federal campaign matching funds in 2003.
But
because Sharpton pumped more than $50,000 of his own money into the campaign —
disqualifying him from getting the taxpayer-backed funding — the FEC said he
must give back $100,000. Sharpton is appealing the FEC decision.
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