The FCC has granted a transfer of Legend Communications of Wyoming from Susan K. Patrick to her ex-husband, Larry, following her felony conviction for income tax evasion which led to the couple’s divorce.
Legend is the licensee of 24 stations — four AMs, 13 FMs, six FM translators and one booster. The stations serve five markets — Cody, Worland, Sheridan, Buffalo and Gillette — in northern Wyoming.
The company also operates Big Horn Basin Media.
Susan Patrick altered joint individual and partnership returns to under-report approximately $9 million in personal income and $10 million in gross receipts earned by the partnership between 2012 and 2015, according to the commission’s summary of federal court records.
Pursuant to a stipulated divorce decree, Susan Patrick agreed to transfer her ownership interest and control in Legend to her ex-husband for a sum of one dollar. Susan and Larry jointly filed a transfer of control form to the commission in June 2024.
After the FCC performed a character evaluation, it determined the northern Wyoming communities would be best served by Larry Patrick assuming control of the stations, and that he had demonstrated a clean track record since the Patricks formed the company.
Timeline
The Patricks formed Legend Communications in March 1998, with husband and wife each owning 30 percent.
In 2018, the couple bought out their partners and each assumed half ownership.
The couple were also co-owners in other entities, including the brokerage firm Patrick Communications.
According to the commission’s facts of the case, in 2016, Patrick Communications failed to file employee tax documents, and the Internal Revenue Service opened an investigation collection case.
Susan Patrick transmitted to the IRS what she said to be missing tax forms. In reality, according to the commission, the documents significantly under-reported both her and her husband’s income and PCL’s partnership income, using backdated signatures.
Five years later, according to the FCC’s account, Larry Patrick returned from a business trip to discover that his wife had moved out of the home they shared, leaving a note that stated she faced issues that “required all her attention” in the near future.
That August, Susan pleaded guilty to one count of criminal information charging her with willfully subscribing to a false tax return.
Lawrence Patrick filed a divorce proceeding, and also requested a temporary restraining order, which he was granted.
Susan Patrick was adjudged guilty of willfully making and subscribing a false tax return in the U.S. District Court for Maryland.
She was sentenced to 15 months in prison, as well as an order to pay approximately $3.5 million in restitution to the federal government.
The divorce was finalized in March 2024, and in June, the FCC received the application to transfer control of Legend’s broadcast licenses.
Character counts
As the commission reviewed the transfer, it noted that the Jefferson Radio policy generally prohibits the assignment or transfer of control of a station license when character qualification issues are pending against the licensee.
The rule is designed to prevent a wrongdoer from “selling out” to avoid disqualification and profiting from the sale of a license despite their misconduct.
According to its records, Larry Patrick said he had no knowledge or suspicion of his wife’s behavior.
The FCC determined that he had a long record of operating the stations and “is fully qualified to continue operating them.”
Ultimately, given the fact that Susan Patrick concealed her crimes to both the IRS and her husband, according to the commission, and that she will be “exiting the broadcast business,” it determined the Legend stations would be best served by being controlled by Larry Patrick.
Larry Patrick relaunched the Patrick Communications brokerage firm under the name Patrick Media in 2023, according to Inside Radio.
[Do you receive the Radio World SmartBrief newsletter each weekday morning? We invite you to sign up here.]
