FORT WORTH — Stephanie Hockridge, a former local TV news anchor in Phoenix, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for her role in what federal prosecutors called a massive pandemic-era fraud.
In June, Hockridge was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud by a jury in the court of U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor. A November 2024 indictment claimed that she and her husband, Nathan Reis, together with others, submitted what they knew were thousands of phony applications for forgivable, federally backed loans under the federal Paycheck Protection Program, established by Congress in March 2020 to help struggling businesses stay afloat during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The indictment said Reis and Hockridge, through Blueacorn, a company they ran, “fabricated documents, including payroll records, tax documentation, and bank statements” to make fraudulent loan applications appear legitimate. In exchange for Blueacorn’s illegal services, the indictment said, the company received both kickbacks from their borrower-clients and percentage fees from the private lenders making the loans under the auspices of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Reis pleaded guilty to conspiracy in August. His sentencing before Judge O’Connor is scheduled for Dec. 18.
According to a December 2022 report by the U.S. House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis, Blueacorn took in nearly $300 million in profits while spending “less than one percent of the fees it received for its PPP work … on its fraud prevention program.”
In 2021 alone, the report said, Blueacorn received more than $1 billion from lenders for its PPP services. That year, the company processed and submitted more than 739,000 PPP loan applications.
In addition to her prison sentence, Hockridge was ordered to make more than $53 million in restitution payments.
A tearful Hockridge told Judge O’Connor on Friday, “All I want is to for you to hear how truly sorry I am.” She added, “I trusted people I shouldn’t have,” and said her husband had misled her about Blueacorn’s nefarious activities.
The couple have a 14-month-old son.
“Today is the hardest day of my life,” she told the judge. “I kissed my baby goodbye before walking into this courtroom.”
Pending before Judge O’Connor is a motion to stagger Hockridge’s sentence with any prison time her husband receives so both of the infant’s parents won’t be incarcerated at the same time. She was ordered to surrender herself by Dec. 30.
Hockridge’s mother, Nancy Hockridge, pleaded for mercy for her daughter, whom she described as “someone who trusts people to do the right thing,” adding, “her mistakes were born of naivete.”
The criminal case “has devastated our family,” Nancy Hockridge said.
“Removing our grandson from his mother’s care will not support his well-being,” she said.
O’Connor said that in imposing the 10-year sentence he was deviating downward substantially from federal sentencing guidelines, in view of Hockridge’s lack of a prior criminal record, her supportive friends and family, and her good standing in her community. He said he does not believe Hockridge will break the law in the future but said she deserved prison time because she and her co-conspirators capitalized on a generous government program intended to help Americans through a devastating pandemic and economic shutdown.
Hockridge is represented by Gregg Gallian of Dallas and Richard Finneran of Bryan Cave in St. Louis.
The prosecution team includes, among others, Philip Trout, a Department of Justice attorney from Washington, D.C., and Matthew Weybrecht of the U.S. attorney’s office in Fort Worth. The case is 4:24-CR-287-O