United States Attorney Kenyen R. Brown of the Southern District of Alabama announced today that Arthur Leyon Penn, 39, of Monroeville, Alabama, was sentenced today by Senior U.S. District Judge Callie V. S. Granade to 10 months imprisonment for tampering with a witness in his tax fraud case in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. Senior Judge Granade ordered that 6 months of Penn’s prison term run concurrently with his 48-month sentence in his tax fraud case, that 4 months run consecutively with the sentence in his tax fraud case, and that he pay a $100 mandatory special assessment. Before imposing her sentence, Senior Judge Granade underscored the serious nature of the witness tampering conduct.
Penn led The Penn Agency LLC, a company based in Monroeville, Alabama that provided insurance and fraudulent tax preparation services. He co-owned The Penn Agency with his wife, co-defendant Oleavia Mitchell Penn, who operated another fraudulent tax preparation business, Quick Tax, in Camden, Alabama. In January 2016, Arthur Penn and five co-defendants were indicted by the Federal Grand Jury for the Southern District of Alabama. The indictment alleged that between 2011 and 2015, Penn orchestrated a fraudulent tax scheme and sought personal financial gain by defrauding the Treasury Department through the preparation and filing of fraudulent federal tax returns. On Aug. 22, 2016, Arthur Penn pled guilty to two counts of aggravated identity theft in connection with the unlawful use of individuals’ social security numbers and the preparation and submission of fraudulent tax returns. That same day, Oleavia Penn also pleaded guilty before Senior Judge Granade to committing aggravated identity theft.
Later in August 2016, Arthur Penn was indicted by the Federal Grand Jury for the Southern District of Alabama on two counts of tampering with a material witness in his tax fraud case. On Dec. 14, 2016, Arthur Penn pleaded guilty before Senior Judge Granade to one count of witness tampering. As part of his plea, he admitted to attempting to bribe a former employee at The Penn Agency to prevent her from testifying against him at trial in his tax fraud case. After Arthur Penn pleaded guilty to witness tampering, Senior Judge Granade sentenced him to 48 months imprisonment in his tax fraud case. Oleavia Penn’s sentencing date in the tax fraud case is March 15, 2017.
The tax fraud and witness tampering cases were investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, and the 35th Judicial Circuit Task Force in Monroeville, Alabama. The cases were prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Sinan Kalayoglu and Greg Bordenkircher.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
