Former TV Anchor Sentenced to Decade in Prison for Massive Covid Relief Fraud
A former television news anchor from Phoenix has been handed a 10-year prison sentence for her central role in a sophisticated scheme that fraudulently obtained $63 million in Covid-19 relief funds. Stephanie Hockridge, who previously worked for ABC15, was convicted by a jury in June, with sentencing taking place on Friday.
The Elaborate Blueacorn Fraud Operation
According to the US Department of Justice, Hockridge and her husband, Nathan Reis, established a company named Blueacorn in April 2020. The firm purported to assist small businesses in securing Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, which were guaranteed by the US Small Business Administration to help companies survive the pandemic's economic fallout.
Instead of providing legitimate assistance, the couple and their accomplices fabricated payroll records, tax documents, and bank statements to submit false loan applications. In a particularly brazen move, they operated a "VIPPP" service that actively coached clients on how to submit fraudulent information to secure loans.
Kickbacks and Concealed Evidence
The justice department revealed that the group charged borrowers kickbacks based on a percentage of the funds received. Hockridge personally recruited referral agents to push more fraudulent applications, aiming to increase both the kickbacks from clients and their share of SBA lender fees.
Evidence presented during the trial included Slack messages where Hockridge instructed colleagues to "delete them" and expressed disregard for smaller, legitimate loans, writing "who [expletive] cares" about deprioritising them. In another instance, she directed a contractor to approve a "VIPPP" loan without proper review, stating "No need to put your spot-checker on it – the file is good."
High-Profile Prison and Billion-Dollar Scale
Hockridge will serve her sentence at the federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, the same facility that houses notorious inmates Ghislaine Maxwell and Elizabeth Holmes. Her husband pleaded guilty to the same conspiracy charge in August, two months after her conviction.
The scale of the fraud was monumental. A 2022 congressional report found that Blueacorn processed over $1 billion in taxpayer money for loans. The firm's partner lenders issued nearly three times more PPP loans in 2021 than banking giants JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America combined, according to AZ Family reports.
