YOU NEED TO KNOW
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Former Arizona news anchor sentenced to 10 years in prison for federal wire fraud conspiracy
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Prosecutors say Stephanie Hockridge, a former employee of Phoenix news station ABC15, was involved in a pandemic-era wage protection program (PPP) loan scheme.
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Hockridge and her husband created false payroll records, tax documents and bank statements to allow some applicants to obtain larger loans, the Justice Department said.
A former Arizona news anchor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a federal wire fraud conspiracy related to a pandemic-era payroll protection program (PPP) loan scheme.
On Friday, November 21, Stephanie Hockridge, a former employee of the Phoenix ABC15 news station, was sentenced by a Texas federal judge to 120 months in prison, according to AZ Family and ABC15. She will begin her sentence just days after Christmas.
Hockridge was also ordered to pay nearly $64 million in restitution, along with her co-defendants, and must serve two years of supervised release.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Hockridge was convicted in June 2025 of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, although she was acquitted of four counts of wire fraud.
Hockridge and her husband, Nathan Reis, founded a lender servicing company in 2020 called Blueacorn that they said aimed to help small businesses secure federal PPP loans. Hockridge and her co-conspirators charged borrowers kickbacks based on a percentage of the funds received, according to the DOJ.
However, federal investigators said the couple created false payroll records, tax documents and bank statements to allow some applicants to obtain larger loans from the US Small Business Administration (SBA), which ran the PPP program.
During Hockridge’s trial, prosecutors argued that the couple showed others how to submit fake PPP loans. At one point, they got a loan for a company with no employees.
“As part of the scheme, Hockridge and others offered a personalized service to their clients called ‘VIPPP’ to help potential borrowers fill out PPP loan applications. Hockridge recruited co-conspirators to work as VIPPP referral agents and coach borrowers on how to submit false PPP loan applications,” the DOJ statement read.
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A report obtained by AZ Family showed Scottsdale, Arizona-based Blueacorn did more than a billion dollars in loan processing, and the company’s partner lenders facilitated nearly three times as many PPP loans in 2021 as JP Morgan, Chase and Bank of America combined.
The outlet also reported that the couple moved to Puerto Rico after most of their PPP loans were forgiven.
“This defendant exploited a national emergency to personally profit from a taxpayer-funded program intended to support vulnerable individuals and small businesses,” Matthew R. Galeotti, chief of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in June. “This conviction demonstrates the Department’s commitment to holding individuals accountable for defrauding the government and wasting taxpayer money.”
Hockridge’s sentencing was originally scheduled for October 10, but was pushed back to November 21. She faces up to 20 years in prison.
She will be held at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas — a minimum security facility that currently houses Ghislaine Maxwell, Elizabeth Holmes and real housewives of salt lake city star Jen Shah, according to AZ Family. She was ordered to report there by December 30.
Reis accepted a plea deal, and is to be sentenced in December.
Read the original article on People