Al Sharpton Financial Records Destroyed In Two Separate Fires: Intentional Or Accidental?

Al Sharpton is always making headlines for one reason or another. If he’s not the center of some form of controversy for his personal life, he’s embroiled in a heated political debate. Now, it appears he’s back in the forefront yet again. According to the National Review, details about two questionable fires have been uncovered.

Both fires resulted in the loss of Rev. Sharpton’s personal belongings when his National Action Network campaign headquarters went up in flame. However, what he lost in the fires has raised speculation. Apparently, the only items destroyed were critical financial records. Then to make matters worse, both fires occurred around the times Rev. Sharpton was running for mayor of New York City. The fires reportedly took place in 1997 and 2003.

Suspicious fires destroyed Al Sharpton’s financial records – TWICE http://t.co/YicQa7mYk1 #tcot #IRS

— ???? Bossy Brat ???? (@JGalt09) March 12, 2015

The publication reports investigators stated that the 1997 two-alarm fire was indeed suspicious. The date of the fire also raised suspicious because it occurred approximately five days before Tax Day when Sharpton was set to make his financial records public. It was also reported that he was facing issues with the New York City Conflict of Interests Board because he failed to turn in his personal financial disclosure forms by the allotted deadline. Due to the fire, the financial records were never reviewed or exposed, which only raised suspicious about whether the fire was intentional or accidental.

Sharpton reportedly told Newsday the damage to his office was substantial. However, an insider stated otherwise. According to the insider, the office was reportedly near empty at the time of the mysterious fire and there was not extensive damage. Computers, financial records, campaign files, and other confidential information were destroyed, but nothing else.

However, that’s not all. The oddity of the details about the second fire, which occurred in 2003, were quite similar to the first fire, reports New York Times. Just one day after Sharpton filed to launch a presidential exploratory committee, the National Action Network went up in flames yet again. Although the fire was also deemed an accident, the brief police report raised speculation as if a substantial number of details had been left out.

During an interview with the National Review, James Kelty, a supervising fire marshal who dispatched for the 2003 fire, recently speculative details about the fire. He also cited how the fire-and-incident report and investigative evidence also raised concerns. According to the suspicious report, a maintenance worker identified as J.D. Livingstone was the first to notice the fire. However, Livingstone and the superintendent were never interviewed without Sharpton’s long-time attorney, Michael Hardy, present. Kelty also touched on the suspicious inconsistencies with the witness interviews.

“I was on the fire, and then I wasn’t on the fire; I was on the fire scene, and then I was no longer at the fire scene,” Kelty said. Big fires and fires involving prominent people are generally much more exhaustive. Thirty-eight photos are a drop in the bucket, especially given Sharpton’s notoriety and given the fact that he was running for U.S. president….”I could probably count on my hand — and have fingers left over — how many times I have talked to a superintendent or maintenance worker and had an attorney there. It’s just extremely unusual.”

“These interviews are not consistent. Usually, any maintenance person or any super, if an incident like this did occur — they notice that there’s some kind of fire by the reception area. They’d normally tell you they’d rush to try to get something to put the fire out, still call the fire department, but try to extinguish the fire. Regardless, we’re normally there around four to five minutes after the transmission of a fire alarm, and we have a heavy volume of fire upon arrival at National Action Network. That’s not normal fire behavior. To me, it strikes me as odd. It doesn’t mean that could not have happened, but it’s unusual.”

Of course, the fires have garnered public speculation. Over the years, conspiracy theorists have also analyzed the two fires. Local residents also insisted that they felt the fires were intentional given the comprising dates both took place.

Do you think Al Sharpton intentionally destroyed his financial records?

[Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images; Kena Betancur/Getty Images]