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Rev. Al Sharpton was arrested yesterday on charges of stealing from an organization he established nearly 20 years ago at least $250,000 with promises to help young people.
Mr. Sharpton, who is 34 years old, was charged with the prosecution obtained by State Attorney General Robert Abrams, which listed 67 large larceny charges, falsified business records and fraud. He was arrested at his home in Brooklyn, arrested at the State Supreme Court in Manhattan and then taken to Albany, where he is to be arrested today on charges of income tax in a related investigation by a separate grand jury under the direction of Mr. Abrams.
The indictment in Manhattan, which was handed over on Wednesday and made public yesterday, was founded in 1971 by an investigation into the National Youth Movement, which Mr. Sharpton founded when he was in high school in 1971.
From January 1985 to January 1988, the prosecution claims that Mr. Sharpton misrepresented the organization as a non-profit organization and applied for contributions in excess of $1,000 from various companies and individuals, including the Coca-Cola Company, Don King and Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Sharpton said the organization was intended to promote job training, anti-drug programs, registration of voters and other programs and had up to 15,000 members across the country at one time. However, the authorities question whether there were many more members and a handful of associates beyond Mr. Sharpton.