Parents... Entrepreneurs... Creatives... Wrongfully Prosecuted!!!

Chris and Erin Mazzei are loving parents of two young boys. They built a life rooted in creativity, hard work, and community, operating small businesses in California, including a TV production company and a successful catering business — until the government turned their American dream into a nightmare.

During COVID-19, they applied for a PPP loan to support Ohana, a television series in development that told the real, gritty story of government corruption and organized crime in Hawaii — the very same federal district that ultimately prosecuted them.

Their lives changed forever when the Hawaii U.S. Attorney’s Office seized their assets without charges, including their California home — purchased three years before the pandemic. Nearly a year later, they were indicted and pressured into guilty pleas under threat of further charges, including one targeting Chris's elderly mother.

They weren’t scammers. They weren’t dangerous. They were a family trying to survive and tell the truth — and were railroaded for it.

What Makes Their Case So Outrageous?

• Their assets were seized before charges were filed — a clear violation of federal law.

• Critical exculpatory evidence was suppressed, including emails from their loan originator saying projected payroll (which they used) was appropriate.

• Prosecutors lied in court — claiming PPP funds were used for personal luxuries, when receipts show that Ohana production began before asset seizures, and that the now-infamous billboard targeting Dwayne Johnson was paid for by a friend, after the government took everything.

• Their case was prosecuted not in California, where they live, but in Hawaii, where the feds had a clear interest in silencing the project they were developing.

• The prosecutor bullied the Mazzei's family home into foreclosure and then used the seized funds and the money the Mazzei's paid back on the loan, having agents go to the auction to try and buy the house.

• Roger Stone publicly supports their full pardon, calling them scapegoats of a government desperate to save face after widespread PPP fraud it failed to prevent.

Even after repaying the majority of the PPP loan, Chris was sentenced to 36 months and Erin to 27 months so the Judge and the Prosecutor could make an example that visitor to Hawaii beware. Today, Erin sits in a federal prison, terrified for her safety, away from her children — who ask every day when mommy is coming home.

This Could Happen to Anyone

Their case is a chilling reminder of how unchecked federal power can devastate innocent lives. If it can happen to a peaceful family in California — for trying to build something meaningful — it can happen to anyone.

Alice Marie Johnson, your leadership has changed lives. Chris and Erin need your voice.

They need clemency.
They need their family back.
They need justice..