$4.6M Child Modeling Fraudster Blew Stolen Cash on Gambling, Taylor Swift Tickets

A Michigan photographer who admitted swindling a family out of more than $4.6 million in a bogus child-modeling scheme and spending “significant sums” gambling has been sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Chanise Coyne, 46, of New Boston, convinced the family that millions of dollars were needed to pay advance fees for their young daughter to participate in modeling events around the country, according to federal prosecutors.

But the girl was never placed in a single modeling event.

Instead, Coyne created fake text messages, emails, and invoices to perpetuate the scheme while misappropriating the family’s money. Prosecutors said she gambled heavily with the proceeds, which included multiple money-laundering transactions involving online sportsbook FanDuel.

$4.6M Restitution

Coyne was initially charged with seven counts of wire fraud and five counts of money laundering. She pleaded guilty in May to one count of wire fraud, admitting she obtained more than $4.6 million from the family through the scheme.

On Monday (September 21), a federal judge sentenced her to five years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $4,669,962.76 in restitution.

“Coyne used a child’s aspirations as a smokescreen for a multimillion-dollar fraud against a family,” U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon Jr. said in a statement announcing the sentence.

The precise amount Coyne spent gambling was not disclosed in the U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement.

However, prosecutors said gambling was far from her only extravagant expenditure. Court records show Coyne spent more than $200,000 on Taylor Swift concert tickets in Florida while carrying out the fraud.

Elaborate Deception

Coyne operated a photography business and had previously worked with the family, according to media reports.

Federal prosecutors said she generated fraudulent documents to convince the family that the opportunities were genuine and also impersonated a third party as part of the scheme.

“This was not a mistake or a momentary lapse in judgment,” Jennifer Runyan, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office, said following sentencing. “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.”

More Victims

The number of people conned by Coyne could be much higher. A private Facebook group named “Chanise Coyne Scam Victims” has more than 360 members. Many describe a pattern of Coyne booking then canceling photoshoots and not offering refunds.

In November 2024, FOX 2 Detroit discovered that she had booked Christmas photoshoots with local families but cancelled after claiming the Santa Claus performer had fallen ill with mpox.

The news station later interviewed the performer in question who denied having contracted the disease.