Albany woman sentenced for pandemic relief fund fraud

An Albany woman has been sentenced for fraudulently getting millions in Paycheck Protection loans.

Debra Hackstadt, 68, was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison for getting 32 government backed loans between April of 2020 and June of 2021.

She fraudulently got more than $1.6 million from pandemic relief programs.

Hackstadt also admitted to defrauding other private lenders before that in 2019.

She will have to pay nearly $2 million in restitution and will have two years of post-release supervision.