The phrase “better half” certainly implies that two people in a relationship should ideally work together as a team, contributing equally to achieving shared goals, similar goals that can’t be reached without working with each other. Just like Christopher and Erin Mazzei, the husband-and-wife entrepreneurial team who owned such businesses as Better Half Entertainment LLC, Better Half Productions, and Guston On the Go Catering. Mazzei and Mazzei were a team in many ways…even as a team to commit fraud.
In April 2020, Mazzei and Mazzie submitted applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds to the Bank of Hawaii and two other banks in Pennsylvania and Maine to supposedly support their purported business. For each application, the Mazzei’s created false Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax returns and payroll records, which they then presented as authentic and submitted to the banks to support their claims for PPP loan funds. As a result of the fraudulent applications, they received $1.365 million in PPP loan funds, which could have paid twenty-five average American salaries. Instead, the Mazzei’s used it for personal purposes and gain.
Along with purchasing multiple sport utility vehicles and a home in Kapolei, Hawaii, the couple spent approximately $164,796 to film a promotional trailer for a television project entitled “Ohana.” They had hoped to produce the film in Hawaii and catch the attention of film producer and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
On January 9, 2025, Christopher Mazzei and Erin Mazzei were sentenced to 36 months and 27 months in prison.
Great job by the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “SLO County couple used COVID-19 aid for a condo in Hawaii. Now they’re going to prison” published by The Tribune on January 13, 2025.
An Arroyo Grande couple was sentenced to more than two years in federal prison Thursday for defrauding the federal government of more than $1.3 million of COVID-19 relief funds to help purchase a condo in Hawaii and at least three luxury vehicles, court documents show. Husband and wife Christopher and Erin Mazzei were sentenced to 36 months and 27 months, respectively, in federal prison on Thursday after both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, court documents show.
“The Mazzeis perpetrated a gross fraud to obtain critical resources intended for members of our community experiencing devastating hardships as a result of the pandemic,” U.S. Attorney Clare E. Connors said in a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
