Infinity2Global scammers found guilty on all criminal charges
A jury has found Richard Maike and his fellow Infinity2Global scammers guilty on all charges.
The September 7th verdict follows a mammoth criminal trial that began on July 12th.
As to Richard Maike (right), founder of Infinity2Global, the jury found him guilty on all counts of
- Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud;
- Conspiracy to Commit Securities Fraud;
- Money Laundering (nine counts); and
- Attempted Tax Evasion
Maike’s co-conspirators, Doyce G. Barnes and Faraday N. Hosseinipour, were each found guilty on one count of Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud and Conspiracy to Commit Securities Fraud.
Barnes worked as Infinity2Global’s Vice President of Marketing. Hosseinipour was a top promoter.
Sentencing of the three defendants has been scheduled for December 12th.
I couldn’t find a sentencing range but I imagine Maike is probably looking at spending a few decades in prison.
Not sure on Barnes and Hosseinipour as they were only convicted on two counts each. Should be a few years at least.
Criminal charges were filed against Maike and five Infinity2Global co-defendants back in 2017.
BehindMLM reviewed Infinity2Global in 2013, noting the “strong possibility” of a Ponzi scheme.
The DOJ confirmed I2G was a $25 million Ponzi scheme in Maike et al.’s 2017 indictments.
The original Infinity2Global trial was scheduled for January 2019. It was pushed back for various reasons until July 2022.
One of the I2G defendants, Richard Anzalone, pled guilty in May. On July 1st the court approved splitting Infinity2Global criminal proceedings into two trials.
The trial that just concluded was that of Maike, Barnes and Hosseinipour. The second trial for Dennis Dovrin and Jason Syn has yet to be scheduled.
Update 8th September 2022 – At time of publication Maike, Hosseinipour and Barnes are all in custody.
Maike filed for release until sentencing but his motion was denied.
Hosseinipour and Barnes have been ordered to remain in custody until they surrender their passports.
We also have some sentencing guidelines courtesy of the Messenger-Inquirer;
Mail fraud carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison, while securities fraud has a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Maike was found guilty of nine counts of money laundering; each count has a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Attempted tax evasion has a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
TL;DR: Maike is facing a maximum sentence of 120 years in prison. Hosseinipour and Barnes are looking at up to 25 years each.
Update 15th September 2022 – Just a brief update on the status of Doyce Barnes and Faraday Hosseinipour, both have been released as per the terms of their 2017 bond conditions.
As per those conditions, Barnes and Hosseinipour have already surrendered his passport to the U.S. Marshal’s office.
As per their convictions, Barnes’ and Hosseinipour’s surrendered passports were transferred from the U.S. Marshal’s office to the U.S. Probation Office.
Update 16th December 2022 – Richard Maike has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Update 7th January 2022 – Doyce Barnes has been sentenced to 4 years in prison. Faraday Hosseinipour has been sentenced to 2.5 years.
Update 14th October 2023 – Faraday Hosseinipour and Doyce Barnes have appealed their conviction.
Article updated, I misread the jury verdict as Hosseinipour and Barnes being convicted of only count. They were both convicted on two counts, which I’ve now updated.
Where are they being held? What jail?
Maike and Hosseinipour were booked at Daviess County in Kentucky.
I believe Hosseinipour has since been released, Maike is still being held there. I don’t know if he’ll stay there till December or be transferred somewhere else.
Not sure where Barnes wound up or if he’s been released yet. Apparently he was ill over the last few days of the trial.
Anzalone is a monster too. How his wife Susan evaded arrest is mind boggling! He’s too stupid without her to do anything!
I’m not able to find if he’s been sentenced yet.
Also what about David Koerner the attorney for this? He likely skimmed money through his fees.
Hi Fred, I guess Anzalone didn’t get sentenced yet because the trial went into his sentence date.
I feel the same way about David Koerner what a piece of garbage. He BLOCKED everyone from getting their refunds through lies and letters to attorney generals.
He is in hiding you don’t see him anywhere. Anzalone made a smart decision to take the fall early and protect his wife from prosecution. This is how the system seems to work.
I will say the FBI did a great job in keeping this case under the law and not doing anything that could hurt the case through their actions.
I’m sad this had to happen to any of them but in my investigation into i2g I found that this entire team was in bidXcel before i2g including David Koerner.
According to OZ on BidXcel they left the company without notice and left everyone hanging **ED NOTE…(walked with the money)**.
It seems this was planned in the way they changed products quickly and moved off of gambling ASAP.
Will see how this plays out!
This article describes I2G as a Ponzi scheme but the structure is that of a pyramid scheme.
It’s called a Ponzi pyramid hybrid.
Every MLM Ponzi scheme is a pyramid scheme.
As I am new on this site I am not familiar with the flow of comments. Oz responded to my comment with “Every MLM Ponzi scheme is a pyramid scheme” but I don’t think so. That is not how charges are filed and it fails to distinguish between a Ponzi scheme and a pyramids scheme.
There are schemes with aspects of both but I2G was not one of them. Full disclosure, I gave testimony for the gov’t on this case.
Yeah if you’re going by court filings they’ll fit the fraudulent business model to whatever they’ve charged them with.
I’m a bit more particular about it because we get the “eVeRyThInG iS a PyRaMid!” idiots every now and then. I’m also a lot more specific in the reviews.
I2G was a Ponzi pyramid hybrid. DOJ filings will often just go with one or the other.
OZ can you point out the Ponzi aspect of I2G?
From the review:
You invested $5000 and they paid you a return out of subsequently invested funds.
I take your point. Though I think any actionable Ponzi scheme prosecution would need more than investing in a casino without established returns, real or promised.
The bulk of funds that entered I2G was through the pyramid scheme. The Ponzi sat on top of that.
Like I said, DOJ gonna do what DOJ does. They did mention the Emperor Ponzi in their filings IIRC.
Ponzi schemes also fall under wire fraud, which was one of the charges.
Anzalone Died from a scuba accident in Hawaii a couple weeks ago from what I heard.
Wow Anzalone is dead. I had my docket check for December 12th.
Will publish a followup tomorrow.
Scuba accident or no, I can’t help but wonder if he chose to dodge prison.
edit: Anzalone drowned in the water following cardiac arrest.
Hosseinipour Fired old lawyer, has new lawyer and wishes to be to new snitch for the Feds to cut sentence. She will not be sentenced in the Dec 12 from what I understand.
I was just going through the DOJ’s response to the motion for an acquittal and new trial.
Sitting here watching the last minues of Morocco and Spain and was content to do a write up tomorrow.
Now I just find out Frank Schneider’s indictment has dropped. I am so tired it’s going to have to wait lol.
In the networking field this is the excuse… She said because Anzalone is dead they need a new Ally for the next trial with the others left.
Can someone tell me who the prosecuting attorney is in the Rick Maike portion?
Any update about Dvorin and Syn court date, outcome of the trial?
No.
I believe we will know more about Syn this month.