London man sentenced for money laundering conspiracy involving COVID relief loans

Date: Nov. 25, 2025

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

London, KY – A London man, Joshua Pennington was sentenced on October 17 by U.S. District Judge Claria Horn Boom to 22 months, for conspiracy to commit money laundering of fraudulently obtained Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Paycheck Protection Program loans.

According to Joshua Pennington’s plea agreement, his co-defendant, Nicole Pennington, made materially false statements on applications for Small Business Administration (SBA) loans made available to qualified applicants in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Six of the loan applications were approved for a total of $1,090,398.35 in fraudulently obtained SBA loan proceeds. Between May 2020 and June 10, 2021, Joshua Pennington and his co-defendant knowingly laundered over $1,000,000 in criminally derived funds, via transactions over $10,000. They used the money to renovate their kitchen, pay for plastic surgery, purchase a Viking River Cruise trip, withdraw cash, purchase vehicles, and pay off loans and mortgages.

Joshua Pennington’s co-defendant, Nicole Pennington, is scheduled for sentencing on January 27, 2026.

Under federal law, Pennington must serve 85 percent of his prison sentence. Upon his release from prison, he will be under the supervision of the U.S. Probation Office for two years.

Paul McCaffrey, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky; Karen Wingerd, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigations, Cincinnati Field Division; and Kelly K. Moening, Special Agent in Charge, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Great Lakes Field Division jointly announced the sentence.

The investigation was conducted by the IRS-CI and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brittany Dunn-Pirio is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.