In a crime that crushed a child's modeling dream, a New Boston woman is going to federal prison for five years for scamming a little girl's parents out of $4.6 million, pretending she was building their daughter's career while actually spending the money on gambling, Taylor Swift tickets and Caribbean cruises.
Chanise Coyne, 46, was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Tuesday, Sept. 22, after pleading guilty in May to wire fraud, admitting she lied to the parents about how their $4.6 million would be used. Specifically, court records show, she claimed that the money would be used to pay advance fees for their daughter to participate in modeling events across the country, for companies like Nike and American Girl. The fees were to cover expenses
like hotel, airfare, clothing and seamstresses.
But there were no events, court records show. And their daughter was never placed in a single modeling show. Rather, prosecutors said, Coyne kept the money, blew a big chunk of it on gambling, $200,000 on Taylor Swift concerts in Florida, Stanley Cup Final tickets and cruises.
And while she was "having a ball," prosecutors wrote in court documents, the family was draining their savings and borrowing from family to keep their daughter's dream alive.
According to court records, Coyne pulled off this scheme by creating fraudulent records — including fake text messages, emails, and invoices — to make it look like the girl would be placed in modeling events. She also pretended to be a talent agent named "Vivian" and a Nike employee named "Isiah," who supposedly was helping set up events. But it was all a ruse, court records show.
"Chanise Coyne did more than steal millions of dollars; she preyed on the deepest hopes of a family devoted to their child," Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Yahkind wrote in a sentencing memo, in which he sought a 70-month prison sentence for Coyne, adding: "She pushed a local family to drain their savings and left them with unimaginable financial and emotional devastation."
Coyne's sentencing memo was sealed. Typically, such memos offer the defendant's side of the story and seek a lighter sentence than what prosecutors want. But for reasons unknown, hers was kept under seal.
The parents who were the targeted in this scheme have not been identified.
In a Tuesday statement, Detroit FBI chief Jennifer Runyon said this "was not a mistake or a momentary lapse in judgment," but a "calculated, multi-million-dollar fraud scheme that preyed on a family’s trust and a child’s aspirations for personal financial gain.”
In addition to her prison sentence, Coyne was ordered to pay $4.6 million in restitution, and serve three years on supervised release.Tresa Baldas: tbaldas@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How fake child modeling agent blew couple's $4.6M on Taylor Swift tix
