A former news anchor in Arizona who co-owned a company that defrauded a pandemic-era loan program of more than $63 million was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the Justice Department said on Friday.
From about April 2020 to May 2021, the former anchor, Stephanie Hockridge, 42, of Rio Grande, P.R., participated in an elaborate scheme that swindled tens of millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program loans, the government’s $800 billion relief effort for small businesses, the Justice Department said.
Ms. Hockridge was charged in November 2024, and she was convicted in June on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Chief District Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas sentenced Ms. Hockridge to 120 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay more than $63 million in restitution.
Lawyers for Ms. Hockridge — who worked as a news anchor for ABC15, an ABC-affiliated television station in Phoenix, from 2011 to 2018, according to the station — did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In April 2020, Ms. Hockridge, with her husband and others, founded a company called Blueacorn to help small businesses obtain Paycheck Protection Program loans, according to the criminal indictment. The company became a breakout star of the federal aid program and stepped in to help the smallest and neediest businesses, but Blueacorn also helped itself, federal prosecutors said.
As part of the scheme, Ms. Hockridge and others offered a personalized service called “VIPPP” to help potential borrowers complete loan applications. According to the indictment, Ms. Hockridge and Nathan Reis, her husband and co-owner, recruited co-conspirators to work as referral agents and to coach borrowers on how to submit false loan applications. Ms. Hockridge and her co-conspirators fabricated payroll records, tax documentation and bank statements to obtain larger loans for certain applicants, and they charged borrowers kickbacks based on a percentage of the funds received.
In one instance in June 2020, Ms. Hockridge, with the help of Mr. Reis, submitted a “materially false” application for a software company called Body Politix to obtain a P.P.P. loan of $19,382. Ms. Hockridge submitted another false application in February 2021 to obtain a loan of $20,832, which was eventually electronically wired into her account.
Ms. Hockridge and her co-conspirators processed more than $63 million in fraudulent program loans, the Justice Department said.
In 2022, a congressional panel issued a report that detailed the government’s rush to get cash out the door to help devastated businesses. The report, which was highly critical of Blueacorn, found that weak government oversight created conditions ripe for fraud. The report portrayed Blueacorn as a tiny company operating with scant staffing, lax internal controls and little interest in separating legitimate loan applications from fraudulent ones.
Mr. Reis pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He is scheduled to be sentenced in December.
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