Anchor Away! Ex-TV Anchor Gets Decade in Prison for $63M Covid-Era Fraud Scheme
(Screengrab via YouTube)
Former Phoenix news anchor Stephanie Hockridge has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for her role in one of the largest Paycheck Protection Program fraud schemes tied to a public figure.
The ex-ABC15 presenter was ordered to pay nearly $64 million in restitution on Friday after a Texas federal court found she helped funnel bogus Covid-era loans through a company she co-founded with her husband, Nathan Reis.
Hockridge, convicted in June of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, is expected to report to prison on December 30. She will serve her sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, according to the New York Post, which is a minimum-security facility already housing Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell and Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes.
Prosecutors said Hockridge and her husband built Blueacorn in 2020 as a supposed lending-services firm aimed at helping small businesses access emergency federal relief. Instead, investigators found the Scottsdale-based operation processed more than $63 million in fraudulent PPP loans, charging borrowers kickbacks and sending applications to the Small Business Administration that they “knew were loaded with fraudulent information.”
The couple also secured more than $300,000 in PPP funds for themselves, according to the Justice Department. A congressional inquiry later concluded the firm routinely ignored basic vetting, charged illegal “success fees,” and instructed staff to prioritize volume over accuracy.
Reis accepted a plea deal in August and awaits sentencing.
Hockridge is a former Emmy nominee and was once named “Favorite Newscaster” in Arizona Foothills Magazine, anchored between 2011 and 2018 at Phoenix-based ABC-affiliate KNXV-TV and previously reported for CBS News Radio in London.
