A Phoenix businesswoman was sentenced to two years in prison and three years of probation for fraudulently taking more than $2.9 million in loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration and using them on personal expenses.

Bridget C. O’Brien was sentenced Tuesday and will also have to pay back more than $1.27 million in restitution, according to a press release issued by the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.

The Attorney General’s Office investigated O’Brien for a series of 23 loans into her companies between March 2020 and January 2021. The funds, applied for through nine shell companies, were part of federal loan packages during the COVID-19 pandemic meant to stabilize businesses and keep workers employed during stay-at-home orders.

O’Brien, who was indicted in 2023, once ran the largest special needs therapy business for children in the state, but questions arose about how the businesses were run including using contractors instead of employees, which would have been ineligible under Paycheck Protection Program loans.

The Attorney General’s Office in its press release said O’Brien used the funds to buy a $1.9 million home in Phoenix as well as other personal expenses, from dining and travel to volleyball lessons for her child.

O’Brien also was dogged by reports she faked a cancer diagnosis to avoid paying bills, according to 12News.

The Arizona Attorney General prosecutor on this case was Humberto Preciado III and the primary investigator was Medicaid Fraud Control Unit Special Agent Roy Garrison. This case was handled by the Arizona Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.