Larry Patrick is likely to become the sole shareholder of Wyoming’s largest radio broadcasting company on the heels of his ex-wife’s tax fraud. Susan Patrick has transferred her 50% stake in Legend Communications of Wyoming to Larry, according to an FCC filing.
The share transfer, a symbolic transaction valued at just $1, is necessitated by Susan’s conviction and subsequent legal restrictions. In February, she was sentenced to 15 months in prison for tax fraud by a Maryland federal district court. As a convicted felon, she is effectively barring her from holding any interest in broadcast properties given ownership regulations.
The court also ordered a year of supervised release and approximately $3.84 million in restitution for the former media broker.
The legal proceedings stemmed from Susan Patrick’s engagement with an accounting firm to prepare accurate tax returns for 2012 through 2014, which she failed to file with the IRS. Despite IRS prompts, Patrick falsely claimed the returns had been filed on time and later submitted altered documents that significantly understated her income by more than $19.5 million, aiming to evade over $2.5 million in taxes.
Larry Patrick’s claims that he had no knowledge of the wrongdoing were further elaborated on in the FCC documents, revealing that Susan Patrick left their marital home in early 2023, indicating personal issues, with Larry only learning of her guilty plea months later through a media report.
Legend Communications, known for its “Big Horn Radio Network,” operates 22 radio stations and three FM translators across various Wyoming communities, including Cody, Worland, Sheridan, Buffalo, and Gillette. The company employs 25 total staff members.
Besides the change of ownership at Legend, Susan Patrick’s guilty plea also led to the dissolution of Patrick Communications – the media brokerage that she shared with Larry. This led to the formation of Patrick Media Brokerage LLC.
Susan represented by Dawn Sciarrino of Sciarrino & Shubert PLLC, and Larry by David Oxenford of Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP.
The transfer of control was filed on June 11, and is pending FCC approval.
