SLO County couple used COVID-19 aid for a condo in Hawaii. Now they’re going to prison
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.
In April 2020, the two submitted applications for Paycheck Protection Program funds to the Bank of Hawaii and two other banks in Pennsylvania and Maine in order to support their purported businesses, Better Half Entertainment LLC, Better Half Productions Inc., which are both film and television production business, and Gusto on the Go LLC, a catering business, court documents said.
Loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, were meant to help small businesses pay their employees during the pandemic shutdown and ensuing economic fallout.
The Mazzeis admitted to using interstate wires to apply — and get approved for — PPP loans using false IRS tax returns and payroll records they created, according to court documents.
As a result of the fraudulent applications, court documents said, they received $1.365 million in PPP loan funds, which they used for personal expenses.
This included buying a condo in Kapolei, Hawaii, with a down payment of $175,500, as well as a $50,000 2020 Lincoln Aviator, a nearly $76,000 2019 Lincoln Navigator and a $43,500 2019 Ford Expedition, court documents show.
The couple also used nearly $27,000 for a mortgage payment and $12,500 for a home equity line of credit payment on their Arroyo Grande home, took out $500,000 and $293,000 in cashier’s checks and transferred $50,000 between bank accounts, court documents show.
According to the news release, the couple also used $164,796 to film a promotional trailer for a television project entitled “Ohana.” The couple hoped to produce the film in Hawaii and catch the attention of film producer and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, the Department of Justice said.
All these purchases took place between May and December of 2020, court documents said.
“This scheme diverted emergency relief that could have paid 25 Americans an average salary,” Adam Jobes, special agent in charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation’s Seattle Field Office, said in the news release. “While small businesses shut down all over the country, the Mazzeis lived in excess on the taxpayers’ dime.”
Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 relief funds can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the web complaint form at: www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.
This story was originally published January 13, 2025 at 11:43 AM.
