2 days ago
Saucy bathtub photo at center of ultra-glamorous former news anchor's fraud trial
A photo of a woman in a bathtub holding stacks of money to her ears is among the intriguing evidence expected at the fraud trial of a glamorous former ABC anchor.
Stephanie Hockridge-Reis is appearing at District Court in Fort Worth, Texas, this week charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and four counts of wire fraud. She had pleaded not guilty and if convicted faces up to 100 years in prison.
The presenter is accused of working with her husband, Nathan Reis, to fraudulently claim government funds during the Covid pandemic by submitting false applications for Payment Protection Program loans on behalf of themselves and their business, Blueacorn.
Mr Reis is set to face the same charges at a separate trial in August.
An exhibit list filed by prosecutors last week offers a tantalizing hint at the trial to come. Evidence expected alongside the bathtub photo include pictures of stacks of $100 bills, a Rolex watch, and text messages that allegedly labeled Hockridge-Reis as 'the MVP'.
The trial started on Monday with a superseding indictment filed last month alleging the couple 'and their coconspirators fabricated documents including payroll records, tax documents, and bank statements'.
Hockridge-Reis and Reis founded Blueacorn in April 2020 after Hockridge-Reis left her post at the ABC affiliate Channel 15 KNXV-TV, a job she held for seven years.
The couple's company was founded with aim to assist small businesses and individuals in obtaining PPP loans.
The US Small Business Administration guaranteed aid to keep businesses afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic through PPP under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. The couple are accused of recruited people to work as referral agents who are said to have coached borrowers on how to submit false PPP loan applications.
The DOJ have claimed the couple charged their clients with illegal fees for their services based on a percentage of the funds received.
The new indictment also accuses the couple of charging banks a 'kickback based on the percentage of their loans that were funded'.
Loans the couple and their coconspirators are said to have received include one for $145,000 after 'falsely stating that entity had employees'.
Other applications for loans, prosecutors say, included the pair stating that they had an Amazon business that earned over $100,000, with prosecutors saying they received more than $20,000 in that loan.
Prosecutors said they would receive the loans into a bank account that would then transfer the funds using interstate wires to another bank account.
The indictment added: 'Nathan Reis and Stephanie Hockridge, along with others known and unknown, knowingly devised and intended to devise the scheme to defraud.'
Prosecutors said this was to 'obtain money and property by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses'.
Prosecutors said that a review of the loans showed what the couple were allegedly willing to do for the money, including a claim that Reis stated in an application that he was African American and a veteran.
Prosecutors allege that other evidence will reveal how Hockridge-Reis described the PPP as '$100 billion dollars of free money.'
Although the PPP loans were set up for small businesses, Hockridge-Reis allegedly told her staff 'Who the f*** cares. We're not the first bank to decline borrowers who deserve to be funded... They can go elsewhere.'
The exhibit list also mentions an association with a Eric Karnezis and his brother Anthony Karnezis.
The two brothers both pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiring to commit wire fraud.
As part of their plea agreements, Eric Karnezis agreed to pay between $25 million and $65 million in restitution to victims, and Anthony Karnezis agreed to pay between $3.5 million and $9.5 million to them.
Hockridge and her husband have both pleaded not guilty to all five of the charges, if convicted the pair could face up to 20 years in prison for each count. Reis's trial is scheduled for August.
