Wyoming Legend Communications in IRS Hotwater

[RF101]

Note... Legend Communications is the station group. Patrick Communications is the broker side:

About Our Business & Team | Patrick Communications

UNRIVALED SUCCESS The best in the business Patrick Communications is also the nation’s top broker of non-commercial stations. No other media brokerage firm has sold more non-commercial stations. We have a unique understanding of the issues associated with marketing non-commercial stations that i ...

patcomm.com

Headline:

"Owner of Wyoming’s Largest Radio Station Chain Admits Hiding $19.5 Million From IRS"
...Susan Patrick, who co-owns more than 20 radio stations around Wyoming, has pleaded guilty to intentionally hiding $10 million in business receipts from the IRS and $9.5 million in personal income....

Owner of Wyoming’s Largest Radio Station Chain Admits Hiding $19.5 Million From IRS

Susan Patrick, who co-owns more than 20 radio stations around Wyoming, has pleaded guilty to intentionally hiding $10 million in business receipts from…

cowboystatedaily.com

The stations (Gillete, Cody, etc.) appear to be these::

https://fccdata.org/?facid=&call=&city=&state=&arn=&party=Legend&party_type=LICEN&ccode=1&country=US&latd=&lond=&lang=en

 

[RF101]

A lot more details...The story is behind a paywall but most readers should see it.

Cody radio station owner pleads guilty to tax fraud - Powell Tribune

A Cody businesswoman recently pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return, admitting she withheld and then manipulated several years of returns in an attempt to avoid paying more than $2.5 million in …

www.powelltribune.com

Headline; "Cody radio station owner pleads guilty to tax fraud
Admits she tried to avoid paying $2.5 million in taxes"

Posted Thursday, September 14, 2023 8:25 am by writer CJ Baker.


"A Cody businesswoman recently pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return, admitting she withheld and then manipulated several years of returns in an attempt to avoid paying more than $2.5 million in taxes."

"As part of a plea deal with federal prosecutors, Susan K. Patrick acknowledged that she’d hidden $10 million of business income — and, in turn, $9.5 million of personal income — between 2012 and 2014." .....


Key point here folks....

"The trade publication Communications Daily reported that a conviction could impact Patrick’s ability to hold the radio station’s licenses, quoting attorneys as saying that the FCC is 'unlikely to overlook a broadcast owner pleading guilty to a felony.' "

The article notes however that it is the brokerage side and not the radio side where the tax offenses occurred. Supposedly the husband and other business partner were unaware of the tax issues.

 

[inari]

Key point here folks....

"The trade publication Communications Daily reported that a conviction could impact Patrick’s ability to hold the radio station’s licenses, quoting attorneys as saying that the FCC is 'unlikely to overlook a broadcast owner pleading guilty to a felony.' "

Yeah they might want to unload their stations pretty quickly. A felony for tax fraud looks really really bad to the FCC.

 

[RF101]

Prosecutors Want Prison For Wyoming Radio Mogul Who Hid $19.5 million From IRS

Federal prosecutors are urging a judge to sentence Cody businesswoman Susan Patrick, who co-owns Wyoming's largest chain of radio stations, to two years…

cowboystatedaily.com

An update to a sad tale..

The reporters did a deep dive on the investigation/sentencing background. Congrats to them.
.

 

[PB Randolf]

She is a brash bold bully who seldom if every pays her staff. Why have so many left. The last GM quit because he saw first hand the seedy underbelly and wanted nothing to do with her. From all accounts staff has dropped like flies.

 

[secondchoice]

Apparently she made some money in radio just had issues with paying taxes.

IMHO the smart thing would be to sell the stations asap. I am sure the FCC will have issues with a convicted tax cheat. Depending on when the stations were bought there could be a tax loss.

I suspect there is a lot of "bad karma" at the stations.