Anzalone consistently testified that he never believed he had done anything wrong or that he participated in a criminal conspiracy. After seven years of asserting his innocence following the closure of I2G, and maintaining a close relationship with Rick Maike, he ultimately accepted a last-minute plea deal to cooperate, as advised by his lawyer.
In reviewing Anzalone’s testimony, it is evident that he struggled to provide the government with the evidence they expected in order to fulfill his plea “cooperation” agreement. He would initially provide the information they sought, only to contradict his statements during cross-examination.
It was clear that he did not believe he acted wrongly in his role as a distributor, nor did he think Rick Maike was doing anything wrong during that time period. He emphasized that his partner, Hosseinipour, would not lie, mislead, or deceive anyone. He described her as honest, loyal, intelligent, motivated to help others, and focused on the “customer.” Anzalone stated that she sent numerous emails to Maike outlining explicit plans to attract customers. He mentioned the difficulty in recruiting her due to her insistence on obtaining proper legal approvals from an attorney before getting involved.
Anzalone repeatedly emphasized that they believed in Maike, trusted Koerner, and had confidence in a strong legal team. During Hosseinipour’s sentencing, the court expressed the sentiment that she had been “duped.”
Despite these factors, Anzalone’s guilty plea was misused to suggest that mens rea—criminal intent—was unnecessary. Furthermore, his close relationship with Hosseinipour led to his guilty plea being wrongly interpreted as an implication of her guilt.
The I2G Court also stated that without Anzalone’s testimony, the convictions would likely not have been possible. Tragically, Anzalone died while scuba diving in Hawaii before he could be sentenced, just fifteen minutes after speaking with Hosseinipour for the last time for 90 minutes.
Attached is the legal argument.