Remember when COVID was sold to us as a “we’re all in this together” moment? Turns out, that was only true if “we” meant billionaires, Big Tech, government bureaucrats, and media elites. While everyday Americans were losing businesses, draining savings, leaving their loved ones to die alone, and watching the economy fall apart, the ruling class was having the financial feeding frenzy of a lifetime.
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Price gouging became permanent; as a matter of fact, we’re still dealing with the price hikes from the COVID era. And lockdowns crushed the little guy and our nation’s kids into dust. Global elites fast-tracked the Great Reset and padded their pockets with trillions. And of course, the now-infamous Paycheck Protection Program, which was supposed to be a lifeline for small businesses, became a lottery for scam artists.
But there’s always a twist… because every so often, the karma wheel spins in the right direction. And when it does… oh boy, it can be truly glorious.
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Enter Stephanie Hockridge.
The former ABC15 news anchor, polished, elite, well-connected, and swimming in media privilege… She wasn’t content with her cushy career or her mansion in Puerto Rico. So she teamed up with her husband and launched a “small business relief” company called Blueacorn, which turned out to be less of a helping hand and more of a massive fraud factory.
And ol’ Steph didn’t just swipe a few grand. According to prosecutors, she helped push more than $63 million in fraudulent PPP payouts, all while selling herself as the compassionate, public-spirited media darling “helping the little guys survive the pandemic.”
But not even her posh elite privilege could save her forever. Karma came knocking, and now she’s going to federal prison for 10 years, and the DOJ is demanding she pay back every penny she stole.
Ouch.
A former news anchor in Arizona who co-owned a company that defrauded a pandemic-era loan program of more than $63 million was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the Justice Department said on Friday.
From about April 2020 to May 2021, the former anchor, Stephanie Hockridge, 42, of Rio Grande, P.R., participated in an elaborate scheme that swindled tens of millions of dollars in Paycheck Protection Program loans, the government’s $800 billion relief effort for small businesses, the Justice Department said.
Ms. Hockridge was charged in November 2024, and she was convicted in June on one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Chief District Judge Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas sentenced Ms. Hockridge to 120 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay more than $63 million in restitution.
Lawyers for Ms. Hockridge — who worked as a news anchor for ABC15, an ABC-affiliated television station in Phoenix, from 2011 to 2018, according to the station — did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In April 2020, Ms. Hockridge, with her husband and others, founded a company called Blueacorn to help small businesses obtain Paycheck Protection Program loans, according to the criminal indictment. The company became a breakout star of the federal aid program and stepped in to help the smallest and neediest businesses, but Blueacorn also helped itself, federal prosecutors said.
As part of the scheme, Ms. Hockridge and others offered a personalized service called “VIPPP” to help potential borrowers complete loan applications. According to the indictment, Ms. Hockridge and Nathan Reis, her husband and co-owner, recruited co-conspirators to work as referral agents and to coach borrowers on how to submit false loan applications. Ms. Hockridge and her co-conspirators fabricated payroll records, tax documentation and bank statements to obtain larger loans for certain applicants, and they charged borrowers kickbacks based on a percentage of the funds received.
Her husband is also heading to the clink.
Former ABC15 anchor Stephanie Hockridge has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay $64 million in restitution. She and her husband were found guilty in a federal conspiracy involving fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program loans tied to their company, Blue Acorn,… pic.twitter.com/0bIPAFvJI9
— aka (@akafaceUS) November 24, 2025
Stephanie’s privilege did come in handy in one aspect. If you or any normal American had done this, we’d have been locked up before your lawyer could finish the first bit of paperwork. But Hockridge was released to her mansion in Puerto Rico while awaiting trial.
Update: Former Phoenix news anchor Stephanie Hockridge and hubby pleaded not guilty to all five felony charges in TX. Judge released them from custody and allowed them to go back to this home in Puerto Rico while they await trial. Jury trial Jan. 6, 2025 at 9 a.m. @FOX10Phoenix pic.twitter.com/HThYOeob81
— Ellen McNamara (@Fox10Ellen) November 27, 2024
At the end of the day, this isn’t just a story about one smug news anchor getting caught with her hand in the taxpayer cookie jar. This is a look into what COVID really was: the biggest, most ruthless wealth-transfer scam in modern history. The middle class was gutted. Small businesses were bulldozed. Everyday Americans were told to shut up, stay home, mask their kids, and watch their livelihoods crumble.
Meanwhile, the elites cashed in. Big time.
They got richer, more powerful, and untouchable. From Big Pharma to Big Tech to politically connected “entrepreneurs,” the ruling class treated COVID like a gold mine, and Stephanie Hockridge jumped in headfirst.
Stephanie won’t be serving time in her Puerto Rican palace. She’ll be serving time in federal prison, right alongside another woman who thought she could outrun karma: Ghislaine Maxwell.
Two elite women. Two massive scams. Two spectacular collisions with karma.
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