Stephanie Hockridge, a former television news anchor turned entrepreneur, was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal custody after being convicted in a COVID-era fraud scheme that prosecutors say diverted more than $63 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to ineligible borrowers.
Hockridge, 42, was found guilty earlier this year of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and was ordered to pay in excess of $63 million in restitution, according to the Department of Justice. She will serve her sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas — the same minimum-security facility where Ghislaine Maxwell is serving a 20-year term.
Prosecutors say Hockridge co-founded a lender-services company called Blueacorn in April 2020 and presented it as a vehicle to help small businesses and individuals secure pandemic relief loans guaranteed by the U.S. Small Business Administration under the CARES Act. Investigators say internal messages produced during the probe show Hockridge instructed staff to prioritize so-called "VIPPP" clients over ordinary applicants.
According to the Department of Justice, Hockridge and her co-conspirators fabricated payroll records, tax documents and bank statements to obtain larger PPP disbursements. Prosecutors also allege the group required borrowers to pay kickbacks based on a percentage of the funds they received.
Hockridge has maintained that Blueacorn was a sincere effort to support small businesses during the pandemic. The Paycheck Protection Program was intended to help employers keep workers on payroll, rehire laid-off employees and cover eligible expenses such as rent, utilities and interest.
The Bryan federal prison camp houses several other high-profile inmates convicted in widely publicized schemes. In addition to Ghislaine Maxwell, convicted former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and former reality-TV star Jennifer Shah are serving sentences at that facility.
Neither Hockridge's attorney nor a representative for the Federal Bureau of Prisons immediately responded to requests for comment.
