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

A former Arizona news anchor has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for federal wire fraud conspiracy related to a pandemic-era paycheck protection program (PPP) loan scheme.

On Friday, Nov. 21, Stephanie Hockridge, a former employee of Phoenix news station ABC15, was sentenced by a Texas federal judge to 120 months in prison, according to AZ Family and ABC15. She will begin her sentence just days after Christmas.

Hockridge was also ordered to pay nearly $64 million in restitution, along with her co-defendants, and must serve supervised release for two years.

According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Hockridge was convicted in June 2025 of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, though she was acquitted of four counts of wire fraud.

Hockridge and her husband, Nathan Reis, founded a lender service company in 2020 called Blueacorn that they said aimed to help small businesses secure federal PPP loans. Hockridge and her co-conspirators charged borrowers kickbacks based on a percentage of the funds received, according to the DOJ.

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

During Hockridge’s trial, prosecutors argued that the couple showed others how to submit fake PPP loans. At one point, they obtained a loan for a company with no employees.

“As part of the scheme, Hockridge and others offered a personalized service to their clients called ‘VIPPP’ to help potential borrowers complete PPP loan applications. Hockridge recruited co-conspirators to work as VIPPP referral agents and coach borrowers on how to submit false PPP loan applications,” the DOJ’s statement read.

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

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

“This defendant exploited a national emergency to personally profit from a taxpayer-funded program intended to support vulnerable individuals and small businesses,” Matthew R. Galeotti, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said 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 originally scheduled for Oct. 10, but was pushed back to Nov. 21. She faced up to 20 years in prison.

She will be held at Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas — a minimum-security facility that currently houses Ghislaine Maxwell, Elizabeth Holmes and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah, according to AZ Family. She was ordered to report there by Dec. 30.

Reis accepted a plea deal, and is set to be sentenced in December.