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For Immediate Release
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Contact:
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Judith Ingram
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Mary Brandenberger
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Julia Queen |
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Christian Hilland |
FEC Reaches Settlement with Rev. Al Sharpton, Sharpton 2004 and Non-profit Corporation
Washington – The Federal Election Commission announced today that it reached settlement agreements, totaling $285,00 in civil penalties, with Rev. Alfred C. Sharpton; Sharpton 2004 and the committee’s treasurer, Andrew Rivera; and National Action Network, Inc, a non-profit organization Sharpton founded and of which he has served as President since inception.
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MUR 5408
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RESPONDENTS:
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Rev. Al Sharpton, Sharpton 2004 and National Action Network
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COMPLAINANT:
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FEC Initiated
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SUBJECT:
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During his 2004 presidential campaign, Sharpton traveled extensively and routinely mixed travel for his campaign committee and National Action Network. An FEC audit and investigation revealed that National Action Network and other entities paid $387,192 in campaign expenses. The FEC determined that National Action Network made payments totaling $107,615 for committee expenses and $73,500 in payments to consultants and vendors for campaign-related work, violating the prohibition against corporate contributions. Sharpton’s sole proprietorships, Rev-Als Production and Sharpton Media LLC, also paid $214,577 in campaign travel expenses and an additional $65,000 came from unknown sources. None of these in-kind contributions were disclosed in the committee’s disclosure reports.
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OUTCOME:
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Sharpton, his presidential campaign committee, Sharpton 2004, and Andrew Rivera, in his official capacity as treasurer, agreed to pay a civil penalty of $208,000 for failing to report accurately all receipts and expenditures, receiving excessive and prohibited in-kind contributions and accepting impermissible corporate contributions. They also agreed to refund $10,500 in unresolved excessive contributions, disgorge $9,000 in excessive contributions and refund $181,115 to National Action Network or disgorge the funds to the U.S. Treasury. National Action Network, Inc. and Sharpton, as president, agreed to a civil penalty of $77,000 for making prohibited contributions to Sharpton 2004.
Respondents also agreed that they misstated receipts and disbursements and cash on hand, understated by $231,753; receipts of $15,000 in loans from unknown sources; and $10,500 in excessive contributions from individuals.
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Under the law, the FEC must attempt to resolve its enforcement cases, or MURs, through a confidential investigative process that may lead to a negotiated conciliation agreement between the Commission and the individual or group. Additional information regarding MURs can be found on the FEC web site at http://www.fec.gov/em/mur.shtml. This release contains only summary information. For additional details, please consult publicly available documents for each case in the Enforcement Query System (EQS) on the FEC web site at http://eqs.nictusa.com/eqs/searcheqs.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent regulatory agency that administers and enforces federal campaign finance laws. The FEC has jurisdiction over the financing of campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, the Presidency and the Vice Presidency. Established in 1975, the FEC is composed of six Commissioners who are nominated by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
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