A former Phoenix television personality will spend the next decade behind bars after being convicted of orchestrating one of the largest COVID relief fraud schemes in the country.
Stephanie Hockridge, 42, once a trusted face delivering the news to Arizona viewers, received a 10-year federal prison sentence for her role in stealing tens of millions of dollars from a program designed to save struggling American businesses during the pandemic shutdowns.
The Justice Department announced that Hockridge exploited the Paycheck Protection Program, draining taxpayer money that was meant to keep Main Street alive during the darkest days of the economic crisis.
The case represents just one piece of a much larger problem facing federal authorities. As Washington rushed to distribute emergency relief in 2020, criminals seized the opportunity to raid programs intended for desperate business owners and unemployed workers.
By the end of 2021, nearly $100 billion in relief funds had been stolen from various pandemic aid programs, reported Newsweek. Much of that money disappeared through unemployment benefit fraud and other scams targeting Americans in need.
Hockridge and her husband Nathan Reis launched a company called Blueacorn in April 2020, according to prosecutors. The business claimed it would help small businesses navigate the complex process of securing PPP loans.
Instead, federal investigators say the couple used Blueacorn as a vehicle to defraud the government. Between April 2020 and May 2021, Hockridge, Reis, and their associates processed over $63 million in fraudulent loan applications.
“To get larger loans for certain PPP applicants, Hockridge and her co-conspirators fabricated documents, including payroll records, tax documentation and bank statements. Hockridge and her co-conspirators charged borrowers kickbacks based on a percentage of the funds received,” the Justice Department stated in its announcement.
The department added that “Hockridge and her coconspirators processed over $63 million in fraudulent PPP loans.”
A grand jury handed down indictments against both Hockridge and Reis in November 2024. The charges included conspiracy and wire fraud related to their alleged scheme.
In June, a jury found Hockridge guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The conviction came after prosecutors presented evidence of the elaborate document forgery operation.
Phoenix television viewers knew Hockridge well from her seven-year stint at ABC15, where she anchored from 2011 to 2018. The station reported on her case following the verdict.
Her defense attorneys mounted a challenge to the government’s case, arguing prosecutors focused on a narrow sample of Blueacorn’s business.
The defense claimed authorities examined only about 20 borrowers out of hundreds of thousands of loans the company processed.
Hockridge’s legal team announced plans to file an appeal following the sentencing.
The former anchor faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. She will serve her time at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, a minimum-security facility.
The Texas prison camp currently houses Ghislaine Maxwell, according to People magazine, making it one of the more well-known federal facilities for high-profile female inmates.
