Former News Anchor Ordered to Start 10-Year Prison Sentence Days After Christmas, Pay Nearly $64M Over Conspiracy Case

YOU NEED TO KNOW

• A former Arizona news anchor was sentenced to 10 years in prison for federal wire fraud conspiracy

• Prosecutors say Stephanie Hockridge, a former employee of Phoenix news station ABC15, was involved in a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan scheme during the pandemic

• The Justice Department said Hockridge and his wife prepared false payroll records, tax documents and bank statements to allow some applicants to obtain larger loans.

A former Arizona news anchor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for a federal wire fraud conspiracy related to a pandemic-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan plan.

On Friday, November 21, Stephanie Hockridge, a former employee of Phoenix news station ABC15, was sentenced to 120 months in prison by a Texas federal judge. AZ Family And ABC15. He will begin his sentence a few days after Christmas.

Hockridge, along with the other defendants, was also ordered to pay approximately $64 million in damages and be sentenced to probation for two years.

according to Ministry of Justice (DOJ), Hockridge was convicted in June 2025 on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, but was acquitted on four counts of wire fraud.

Hockridge and her husband, Nathan Reis, founded a lending servicing company called Blueacorn in 2020 that they say aims to help small businesses secure federal PPP loans. According to the Department of Justice, Hockridge and his collaborators demanded kickbacks based on a percentage of funds received from borrowers.

But federal investigators said the couple created fake payroll records, tax documents and bank statements to allow some applicants to get larger loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which administers the PPP program.

During Hockridge’s trial, prosecutors argued that the couple showed others how to make fraudulent PPP loans. At one point, they took out a loan for a company that had no employees.

“As part of the scheme, Hockridge and others offered their customers a personalized service called ‘VIPPP’ to help potential borrowers complete PPP loan applications. Hockridge recruited VIPPP referral agents and co-conspirators to coach borrowers on how to submit fraudulent PPP loan applications,” the Justice Department’s statement said.

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A report obtained by AZ Family showed that Scottsdale, Arizona-based Blueacorn earned more than a billion dollars processing loans, and that the company’s partner lenders provided nearly three times as many PPP loans in 2021 as JP Morgan, Chase, and Bank of America combined.

The publication also reported that the couple moved to Puerto Rico after most of their PPP loans were forgiven.

“This defendant exploited the 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 a statement 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 scheduled for October 10 but was postponed until November 21. Hockridge faced up to 20 years in prison.

He will now be held at the Federal Prison Camp, a minimum security facility in Bryan, Texas. Ghislaine Maxwell, Elizabeth Holmes And The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen ShahAccording to AZ Family. He was ordered to report there by 30 December.

Reis accepted the plea deal and will be sentenced in December.

Read the original article People