Chris & Erin Mazzei

They pleaded guilty. They repaid most of the money before they were sentenced. They were sent to prison anyway, for deterrence.

They were indicted in 2022 and pleaded not guilty. Trial was set. The counts against them each carried a maximum of twenty years — conspiracy to commit wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. §1349, conspiracy to commit money laundering under §1956(h). That is the arithmetic a federal defendant is handed: risk decades at trial, or take the offer. Two years later, in August 2024, they pleaded guilty. They received 36 months and 27.

Their post-conviction filings under 28 U.S.C. §2255 state that roughly $1,147,754 — about 84% of the loss — had been repaid before they were sentenced, and that they could have repaid every dollar had they been permitted to draw on more than a million dollars of equity in their own home. The court did not permit it. The filings further state that Judge J. Michael Seabright acknowledged their great effort toward restitution, and then imposed prison terms he described as purely for deterrence — treating what they had paid back as something separate from punishment. These figures and that characterisation come from the Mazzeis' own filings and have not been adopted by a court.

Deterrence is a sentence imposed for the benefit of other people. It asks one family to serve as a message to strangers. Erin has served hers. Christopher reports on 20 August.

Their children have not had both parents at once since.