Disgraced ex-TV anchor, Stephanie Hockridge will spend the next ten years behind bars for her role in a multi-million-dollar COVID fraud scheme. The 42-year-old, a former Phoenix TV anchor turned entrepreneur, was sentenced in Texas federal court Friday and ordered to cough up nearly $64 million in restitution for the bogus Paycheck Protection Program loans she helped secure during the height of the pandemic, the Justice Department announced. Hockridge, found guilty in June of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, will report to prison on Dec. 30. She will be locked up at Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas,  the same minimum-security facility that houses Jeffrey Epsteins madam, disgraced Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, and Real Housewives of Salt Lake City scammer Jen Shah, AZ Family reported. Hockridge and her husband, Nathan Reis, founded a lending-services company called Blueacorn in 2020, which they claimed was designed to help small businesses secure federal Paycheck Protection Program loans at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But prosecutors said the couples Scottsdale-based firm charged borrowers kickbacks based on the percentage of the funds received and submitted applications to the US Small Business Administration, which ran the PPP program, they knew where loaded with fraudulent information. In one application, Reis reportedly falsely claimed he was a veteran and an African American. In total, they processed more than $63 million in bogus PPP loans, according to the DOJ. The PPP was an $800 billion federal loan initiative launched in 2020 to help small businesses keep workers employed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Investigators alleged that the couple used the proceeds to enrich themselves personally. The former KNXV-TV anchor claimed that her actions were a sincere effort to support small businesses in navigating a chaotic government problem during an era of unprecedented need. But a congressional report found that Blueacorn routinely failed to properly vet applicants and charged illegal success fees to borrowers violating Small Business Administration rules. The report also detailed how Blueacorns leadership instructed staff to prioritize speed over accuracy. Reis took a plea deal in August and will be sentenced in December. The post Ex-news anchor, Stephanie Hockridge sentenced in massive COVIDfraudscheme appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.



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