Tracii Show Hutsona: Kidd Embezzlement, 51-Month Sentence, Prison

The Tracii Hutsona embezzlement case ended with a 51-month federal prison sentence handed down in February 2023, after she pleaded guilty to wire fraud for stealing more than $1 million from her employer, television personality Joumana Kidd, the ex-wife of NBA figure Jason Kidd. A federal judge in Manhattan also ordered her to pay $1,148,759.28 in restitution and a $10,000 fine, calling her a “serial con artist” whose theft drained Kidd’s bank accounts and her children’s college savings.¹

How Hutsona Stole From Joumana Kidd

Joumana Kidd hired Hutsona in October 2015 as a personal assistant and concierge. Kidd was recovering from health issues at the time and never ran a background check.² Hutsona also ran her own concierge firm, Elite Luxury Lifestyles, marketed as “Elite Lux Life.”³

According to the federal criminal complaint, Hutsona had herself added as an authorized user on Kidd’s bank and credit card accounts. She then paid for luxury hotels, jewelry, and restaurant bills on those accounts, covering the charges by transferring money out of Kidd’s checking accounts and her children’s 529 college savings plans.⁴ Investigators found she also funneled stolen funds into her own concierge business.

In July 2016, she submitted a fraudulent credit card application in the name “Tracii Show” that was linked to Kidd’s account and used Kidd’s Social Security number. To keep the theft hidden, she reportedly hacked into Kidd’s email and sent financial correspondence to the trash folder, and she mimicked Kidd’s normal spending at grocery stores and health insurance providers to avoid flagging the accounts.²

Prosecutors charged the theft as “over $1 million.” Financial investigators who later reviewed the full scope estimated roughly $1.5 million in fraudulent charges and another $1.5 million drained from banking accounts, putting total losses closer to $3 million.²

A Confession, Then More Theft

Kidd confronted Hutsona in September 2018 about roughly $300,000 in unauthorized expenses. Hutsona confessed and signed what the complaint called a “Personal Plea Agreement” promising to repay $307,498.02. She kept stealing. A year later, in September 2019, Kidd discovered more illicit charges and fired her.⁴

Even after being fired, Hutsona tried to keep access. In November 2019, she submitted a forged power-of-attorney document to one of Kidd’s banks, dated February 2017. Both Kidd and the notary whose signature appeared on it denied it was genuine.⁴

A Prior Federal Fraud Conviction

This was not Hutsona’s first federal fraud case. In 2008, she pleaded guilty in the Central District of California to wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, and tax evasion in a case involving a staffing agency in Japan. That conviction, filed under her prior name Vician, carried a restitution order of $484,439.79 and what prosecutors later described as a “lengthy” prison sentence.⁵ The California case was terminated in June 2009.⁶

Arrest and Charges in the Kidd Case

The NYPD and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York opened the Kidd investigation in October 2019, working with the U.S. Secret Service. On February 17, 2021, Hutsona was arrested in Phoenix, where she was then living. Prosecutors charged her with two counts: wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343, carrying up to 20 years, and aggravated identity theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A, which carries a mandatory consecutive two-year term.³

At her May 2021 arraignment, she pleaded not guilty and was released on a $50,000 signature bond with a $15,000 cash deposit.⁵

Guilty Plea and 51-Month Sentence

On July 26, 2022, Hutsona appeared before U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman in Manhattan and withdrew her not-guilty plea, pleading guilty to the wire fraud count. The aggravated identity theft count was not part of the plea.⁷ As part of the agreement, she accepted $1.14 million in restitution and forfeiture.

Sentencing came on February 28, 2023. Judge Furman imposed 51 months in federal prison, $1,148,759.28 in restitution, and a $10,000 fine. Kidd sat in the courtroom gallery. Hutsona told the court, “I am very sorry to Ms. Kidd for violating the trust. I will pay her back. I will continue to move forward with honesty and integrity.” Judge Furman called the conduct “despicable,” labeled her a “serial con artist,” and said: “I want to believe you. Your record doesn’t give me a whole lot of hope.”¹

Nine-Month Sentence Reduction in Prison

Hutsona surrendered to the Bureau of Prisons in Arizona in spring 2023. While incarcerated, she taught creative writing, life skills, and release-planning classes, participated in the “Grow” honor dorm program, contributed to the Angel Tree initiative, and maintained a daily blog post sent to her daughter for publication.⁸

Based on that record, a judge granted her a nine-month sentence reduction over the government’s opposition, citing her “body of work” and “consistent effort” that had not been reflected in her original pre-sentence report. She was also granted 12 months in a halfway house.

Breakfast Bitch Restaurant and Bankruptcy

Hutsona and her husband, Derrell Hutsona, own a restaurant called Breakfast Bitch, which opened in San Diego in 2019 and later expanded to Phoenix’s Roosevelt Row neighborhood. The restaurant is a separate business from the embezzlement scheme and was not part of the criminal case. Derrell Hutsona, who holds the liquor license and is listed as principal on state filings, kept the restaurant running during his wife’s incarceration.⁹

The business has faced repeated legal trouble. A February 2024 eviction complaint over more than $26,500 in unpaid rent was dismissed days later after the rent was paid.¹⁰ The landlord returned to court in January 2026 seeking eviction over $48,354.06 in unpaid rent and fees, and in late December 2025 two customers sued, alleging a menu item made them “violently ill,” a claim the restaurant denied. In February 2026, the parent entity, BB Restaurant Group LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the District of Arizona, listing debts between $100,001 and $500,000. A separate filing for Breakfast Bitch L LLC followed in April 2026.¹¹ In a statement, the restaurant said, “We are simply restructuring, with plans to consolidate some of the entities.”¹²

1
New York Post. Con Artist Gets Prison for Stealing Over $1M From Jason Kidd’s Ex
2
Oxygen. Tracii Hutsona Pleads Guilty to Stealing From Joumana Kidd
3
U.S. Department of Justice. Serial Con Artist Charged in Embezzlement Scheme
4
CBS 8. U.S. v. Tracii Show-Hutsona Complaint
5
AZCentral. Tracii Hutsona Owner Breakfast Bitch Restaurant Phoenix Accused Fraud
6
CourtListener. United States v. Vician
7
New York Daily News. Serial Con Artist Pleads Guilty to Stealing $1 Million From Rich Clients in Concierge Service Scam
8
White Collar Advice. Why Tracii Hutsona Got a 9-Month Sentence Reduction and a Year in the Halfway House
9
Phoenix New Times. Breakfast Bitch Tracii Hutsona Starts 51-Month Sentence in Phoenix Prison
10
AZCentral. Breakfast Bitch Restaurant Phoenix Eviction Dismissed
11
PACER Monitor. Breakfast Bitch L LLC
12
Phoenix New Times. Downtown Brunch Spot With Troubled History Files for Bankruptcy