Atlanta Woman Is Handed Down Six-Month Sentence For Lying To Federal Judge

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Tonya Leshun Hall, 43, of Atlanta, Georgia, was sentenced to six months in prison yesterday for lying in federal court, following her guilty plea to a criminal contempt charge, announced R. Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney presided over the case.

According to court documents, Hall testified in August 2016 during a pair of hearings in a civil lawsuit between plaintiff Antonio Stukes and defendant Debra Antney filed in U.S. District Court.  Stukes was shot in a shoot-out along Independence Boulevard in February 2011 by members of a security detail working for rapper Waka Flocka Flame, whose given name is Juaquin Malphurs.  In connection with the civil suit, Stukes sought to enforce a judgment for compensatory and punitive damages obtained against Antney, who is Waka Flocka’s mother, and various business entities allegedly under Antney’s control. 

Court documents show that Hall testified on Antney’s behalf during the hearings on August 25 and August 30, 2016.  During those hearings, Hall opined that, based on her review of Antney’s finances, Antney had “no money” to satisfy the judgment entered against her in the civil suit.  In support of her opinion, Hall represented she had graduated from Emory University with a degree in accounting and was licensed as a certified public accountant in Georgia. 

In yesterday’s hearing in federal court, Hall admitted that her claims about her credentials were not true.  Hall did not graduate from Emory and was never licensed as a CPA.  During the sentencing hearing, Judge Whitney explained that Hall’s lies “misled” the court in its assessment of Antney's ability to satisfy the judgment in the civil suit.  In announcing Hall’s sentence, Judge Whitney highlighted the “need to promote respect for the law” and the importance of truthfulness in the justice system.

Hall pleaded guilty to one count of criminal contempt. She will be ordered to report to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to begin serving her sentence, upon designation of a federal facility.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.

The criminal contempt case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Charlotte.