US v. Maike, et al.

US v. Maike, et al.

On November 13, 2019, a federal grand jury returned a thirteen-count superseding indictment charging Richard Maike, Doyce Barnes, Richard Anzalone, Faraday Hosseinipour, Dennis Dvorin, and Jason Syn in connection with an alleged pyramid scheme.  Maike was also charged with nine counts of money laundering and two counts of tax evasion.

Trial for Maike, Barnes, and Hosseinipour started in Owensboro, Kentucky on July 12, 2022, and concluded with the jury’s verdict on September 7, 2022, after four hours of deliberation.  The jury found all three defendants guilty on all counts.  One co-defendant, Richard Anzalone, previously entered a plea of guilty to the conspiracy to commit securities fraud and testified at trial. Anzalone’s charges were dismissed after he died in October of 2022.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Maike, Barnes, and Hosseinipour sold positions in Infinity 2 Global, or I2G, purportedly a multi-level marketing company, which the United States proved at trial was operating as a pyramid scheme.  The evidence at trial showed that in approximately 15 months, I2G sold nearly 5,000 of the $5,000 Emperor positions generating, along with other lower-priced positions, over $30 million in revenue, much of which went out in the form of commissions to the promoters at the top of the pyramid structure. Commissions were generated based on recruitment of new members into the company.  Over 90% of the people who bought a membership in I2G lost money.

On December 12, 2022, the Court sentenced Maike to 10 years in prison and ordered him to pay a $100,000 fine.  On December 16, 2022, the Court sentenced Barnes to 4 years in prison.  On January 5, 2023, the Court sentenced Hosseinipour to 30 months in prison.  They were each also ordered to serve a 3 term of supervised release after being released from prison. There is no parole in the federal system.

Dvorin and Syn pled guilty.  On November 17, 2023, the Court sentenced Dvorin to one year in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release.  On December 19, 2023, the Court sentenced Syn to 3 years of probation.

All five defendants were ordered to pay restitution.

Request for Input
If you want to inform the United States Attorney’s Office of your views regarding any aspect of the case, please send an email to usakyw.i2grestitution@usdoj.gov.