Glamorous TV anchor facing years in prison over shocking Covid lies learns her fate
A glamorous TV news anchor facing years in prison over shocking Covid lies has learned her fate.
Stephanie Hockridge-Reis was found guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. She had pleaded not guilty but could now be jailed for decades. Hockridge was acquitted of four counts of wire fraud.
The scandal involved photos of her holding cash in a bathtub, luxury beachfront apartments, and a billion-dollar fintech scheme that left American taxpayers footing the bill.
A federal jury found the 42-year-old former KNXV-TV anchor guilty concluding that she orchestrated a vast scheme to exploit the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during the height of the pandemic.
Hockridge's sentencing is scheduled for October 10, and she faces up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy conviction.
The verdict caps a dramatic fall from grace for the Emmy-nominated journalist who once graced magazine covers as ' Arizona 's Favorite Newscaster.'
But behind the studio lights and on-air smiles, federal prosecutors say Hockridge was running a Covid cash-grab empire alongside her husband, fintech founder Nathan Reis, 46.
The US government's case centered on Blueacorn, the fintech firm Hockridge co-founded with Reis in April 2020 just weeks after leaving her anchor job at ABC15.
The company claimed to help small businesses navigate the PPP loan process, a lifeline created by Congress to keep workers employed during the Covid crisis.
In reality, investigators say Blueacorn became a fraud factory.
According to a congressional subcommittee, the company processed over $12.5 billion in loans and pocketed up to $300 million for its ownership group, including Hockridge , while spending virtually nothing on fraud prevention.
While many small businesses struggled to survive during the pandemic, Hockridge and Reis were living large, filming videos with bricks of cash, flaunting Rolex watches, and vacationing on the balconies of tropical locales.
Among the most damning evidence:
A bathtub photo showing Hockridge holding stacks of $100 bills to her ears like a phone.
A video taken from a luxury beachfront apartment in Puerto Rico, where the couple had relocated to avoid U.S. capital gains tax.
Internal messages encouraging staff to 'push through' loan applications with no regard for red flags.
A so-called 'VIPPP' list that allowed high-dollar clients to bypass security checks.
'Who the f*** cares,' Hockridge allegedly said in one message about improperly rejected applicants. 'We're not the first bank to decline borrowers who deserve to be funded… They can go elsewhere.'
Another text cited by prosecutors reportedly described her as 'the MVP' of the operation.
According to court filings, Hockridge and Reis submitted fraudulent PPP applications for themselves, including one claiming Reis was both African American and a military veteran - both lies.
The couple received at least $300,000 in personal PPP funds.
They also charged borrowers illegal 'success fees,' violating SBA rules, and even struck kickback deals with banks, collecting percentages of loans that were funded, prosecutors alleged.
Blueacorn's practices were so brazen that Congress launched a formal investigation, revealing that while the company collected over $1 billion in taxpayer-funded processing fees, it spent only $8.6 million on fraud prevention - less than 1 percent of its intake.
One congressional report summarized the company's internal directive succinctly: Speed over accuracy.
Some employees, with zero financial training, were reportedly processing hundreds of loans in under 30 seconds each.
'This was not about helping small businesses,' a federal official close to the investigation said. 'It was about siphoning off a national crisis for personal gain.'
Hockridge's transformation from trusted journalist to convicted felon has gripped Arizona's media community.
She spent seven years as a respected anchor for KNXV-TV, and previously worked for CBS News Radio in London.
Her career accolades include an Emmy nomination and features in local lifestyle publications.
But prosecutors painted a starkly different portrait in court: not a broadcaster-turned-entrepreneur, but a co-conspirator in one of the biggest pandemic profiteering cases to date.
During the trial, federal attorneys introduced a superseding indictment alleging that Hockridge and Reis fabricated payroll records, tax documents, and bank statements.
In one application, the couple claimed to own an Amazon business generating six figures.
Another loan was issued to a nonexistent company they claimed had multiple employees.
The couple allegedly rerouted money through a chain of bank accounts, using interstate wires to disguise their tracks.
'Nathan Reis and Stephanie Hockridge… knowingly devised and intended to devise the scheme to defraud,' the indictment states.
'To obtain money and property by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses.'
At the heart of the prosecution's case was an alleged attitude of impunity.
Prosecutors said Hockridge once described the PPP program as '$100 billion of free money.'
Her husband's trial is scheduled for August where he faces similar charges.
Reis, who reportedly moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico, in the aftermath of the scheme, has denied all allegations and also pleaded not guilty.
Federal investigators say that Reis played a central role in overseeing Blueacorn's day-to-day operations and financial distributions - and helped foster the toxic culture that prioritized profit above all else.
The case is also connected to Eric and Anthony Karnezis, two men who earlier this year pleaded guilty to PPP fraud in a related case.
Eric Karnezis agreed to pay between $25 million and $65 million in restitution; Anthony agreed to repay between $3.5 million and $9.5 million.
Hockridge's conviction underscores what federal watchdogs have called the largest fraud wave in US history - fueled by emergency Covid aid programs and exploited by thousands of bad actors.
The Paycheck Protection Program, meant to protect workers, became a cash cow for predators.
Hockridge will be sentenced in October.
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