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A Michigan photographer will spend the next five years behind bars for swindling $4.6 million from a family in a child modeling fraud scheme — and blowing the cash on $200k Taylor Swift tickets and her gambling habit.
Chanise Coyne, 46, was sentenced to five years in prison for orchestrating a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme involving fake child modeling events, United States Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. of the Eastern District of Michigan announced Tuesday.
Coyne, who lives in New Boston, previously pleaded guilty to wire fraud in May and confessed to receiving over $4.6 million from a local family under the guise that the funds would be used for advance fees for their young daughter’s participation in modeling events across the country.
The sneaky swindler fabricated fake records — including text messages, emails and invoices — as part of the complex scheme.
Prosecutors said Coyne did not use the funds for the young girl’s modeling endeavors and instead splashed the cash for her own benefit.
The Michigan scam artist blew “significant sums of her fraud proceeds” on gambling and dropped over $200,000 on Taylor Swift tickets in Florida, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
“Coyne used a child’s aspirations as a smokescreen for a multimillion‑dollar fraud against a family. And when you prey on families, you will pay for it,” US Attorney Gorgon said in a news release.
She was sentenced to five years behind bars in federal prison and ordered to pay $4.6 million in restitution.
Coyne is also required to serve three years on supervised release when she gets out of prison.
“This was not a mistake or a momentary lapse in judgment. This was a calculated, multi-million-dollar fraud scheme that preyed on a family’s trust and a child’s aspirations for personal financial gain,” said Jennifer Runyan, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Detroit Field Office.
“Those who build their lifestyle on lies, deception, and stolen money should expect serious consequences. FBI Detroit will continue aggressively pursuing fraudsters who target Michigan families and holding them accountable for every dollar they steal,” Runyan added.
Coyne’s deceptive acts date back to at least 2024, when she reportedly took money from a family for a Kris Kringle photoshoot but canceled and claimed the Santa Claus had Monkeypox, FOX 2 reported.
The local station tracked down the Santa Claus at the time, who showed the outlet text messages from Coyne claiming she was canceling the sessions because she was sick with the illness.
Only after the station got involved did the sneaky photographer return the money to the family she canceled on but never cleared up the confusing situation.
Coyne’s photography business garnered mixed reviews online — with several claiming she would regularly cancel shoots and refuse refunds in the comments section of a Facebook post about the Santa Claus scandal.
“I purchased photo packages costing hundreds of dollars and she rescheduled/canceled shoots (which stuff happens, I get), but wouldn’t refund money and only gave ‘credits’ and then the way she did bookings, I was never available to use any ‘credits’ for any shoots,” one Facebook user wrote.
“Literally she’d be like ‘this shoot can’t be booked with credits.’ None of them could. So the credits were useless. She refused refunds and it’s not just me who experienced this,” the user added, sharing several screenshots of alleged conversations with Coyne repeatedly cancelling the prepaid photo sessions.
Another user pointed out the hypocrisy of Coyne’s lavish lifestyle — including a Taylor Swift concert in Miami, which prosecutors alleged was funded by her fraudulent behavior.
“Omg she has posted on her FB page in 2023 staying in a mansion, on a party bus and at the Taylor swift concert with about 20 ppl in Miami! What a f–king idiot!! Loser fraud!!!!!”
There is also a private Facebook group with over 300 members named “Chanise Coyne Scam Victims,” which was created in November 2024 and features a screenshot of a text exchange from her Santa Claus-Mpox debacle.
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