Overview

• A federal jury found Stephanie Hockridge guilty of one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and acquitted her on four additional wire fraud charges.
• Blueacorn, the Scottsdale-based lender service provider she co-founded, processed over $12.5 billion in Paycheck Protection Program loans and received more than $1 billion in taxpayer-funded fees while spending under 1 percent of those fees on fraud prevention.
• Prosecutors showed that Hockridge and her husband, Nathan Reis, fraudulently obtained over $300,000 in PPP loans, including one application that falsely claimed veteran status and African American identity.
• Internal messages revealed Blueacorn staff were instructed to prioritize speed over accuracy, ignore red flags and skip identity checks unless fraud was deemed ‘extremely obvious.’
• The case underscores widespread abuse of the $800 billion PPP, with total losses estimated in the hundreds of billions, and highlights the Justice Department’s intensified efforts to root out pandemic-relief fraud.