A former Emmy-nominated TV news anchor convicted in a billion-dollar COVID fraud scheme sent a scandalous text to her partner in crime that joked about cheating the taxpayers.
Stephanie Hockridge-Reis, who worked for a local station in Phoenix before becoming a fintech entrepreneur, sent the message to her husband, Nathan Reis, after applying for Payment Protection Program (PPP) loans during the height of the pandemic.
“This is us trying to apply for free money — when we don’t quite qualify. lol,” she texted Reis, 47, according to a federal indictment obtained by the Arizona Republic.
The couple was accused of fraudulently obtaining over $300,000 in PPP loans for themselves, including one application that falsely claimed he was a veteran and an African American.
Reis took a plea deal on Monday and will be sentenced in November.
Hellbound and Down 