Chanise Coyne, 46, of New Boston was sentenced on Sept. 22, 2026 to five years in federal prison and three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $4,669,962.76 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. Coyne pleaded guilty to wire fraud for inventing a child-modeling career for one local family’s young daughter, and collecting more than $4.6 million in supposed fees for events that did not exist.
Five years, three years of supervision and a restitution order
The Justice Department release lays out the sentence in three parts: five years in federal prison, three years of supervised release afterward, and restitution of $4,669,962.76. That restitution figure matches the amount prosecutors say Coyne obtained from the family. The prosecution was led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew J. Yahkind, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Kelly Fasbinder handling forfeiture matters, and the case was investigated by the FBI.
A restitution order sets what a defendant owes. The release does not say how much has been recovered or how quickly the family could expect repayment, and the amount of any recovery is a separate question from the size of the order.
A modeling career that never placed the girl in a single event
According to the release, Coyne told the family that their money would cover advance fees for the girl’s modeling events across the country. The events were not real. The daughter was never placed in an actual modeling event, and Coyne supported the story with fake text messages, emails and invoices to support the story.
The structure is the one the FBI describes on its business and investment fraud page, where advance-fee schemes are defined as schemes that “ask you to invest upfront money for a larger return later, such as a loan, contract, or gift.” In this case the promised return was a career for a child rather than a profit, but the mechanism was identical: a payment first, a larger promised payoff later, and paperwork that kept the story alive.
Gambling and more than $200,000 in Taylor Swift tickets
Prosecutors say Coyne used the money for personal benefit rather than for anything connected to modeling. The release names gambling and more than $200,000 spent on Taylor Swift concert tickets in Florida.
U.S. Attorney Jerome F. Gorgon, Jr. said in the release that “Coyne used a child’s aspirations as a smokescreen for a multimillion-dollar fraud against a family.” Jennifer Runyan, the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge, said: “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.”
Why the size of one family’s loss matters to retirees
A single-victim case can look remote from the concerns of retirees, but the mechanics carry over. The FBI’s common frauds and scams page states that “millions of elderly Americans fall victim to some type of financial fraud or confidence scheme” each year, and lists romance, tech support, grandparent, government impersonation and sweepstakes scams among those aimed at older people. The advance-fee pattern behind the Coyne case is one the bureau treats as its own category of fraud.
The FBI’s advice on advance-fee schemes is short. It says scammers “often ask for upfront cash in exchange for guaranteed future returns,” that “there is no such thing as a guaranteed return on investment,” and that being rushed into a decision or told “not to discuss it with others” indicates deception. Its recommended safeguards are to research any opportunity independently and to avoid hasty commitments.
What reported fraud losses look like nationally
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, which the bureau operates as the central hub for reporting cyber-enabled crime, publishes the totals it receives. Its home page lists reported losses of $4.2 billion in 2020, $6.9 billion in 2021, $10.3 billion in 2022, $12.5 billion in 2023 and $16.6 billion in 2024, and says that more than $50 billion was reported lost over the five years. Those figures cover complaints filed with IC3 and include investment fraud among the categories it accepts.
The FBI tells victims of business and investment fraud to report to ic3.gov. The release on the Coyne sentencing does not say how the case began.
Steps after a payment, by how the money was sent
The Federal Trade Commission’s page on what to do after a scam sorts the first calls by payment method. For a wire transfer, it says to report to the transfer company immediately, say that a scammer tricked the sender, and ask for a refund. For gift cards, contact the issuer, use the number on the back of the card and keep the card and receipt. For cryptocurrency, contact the exchange or ATM operator and ask for a reversal, with the FTC noting that such payments “don’t have the same legal protections as credit and debit cards do.” For credit cards, the issuer should be called using the number on the card.
The FTC says it uses the scam reports it receives to “build cases against scammers, spot trends, educate the public, and share data about what is happening in your community.” The Coyne sentence, by contrast, came from a federal prosecution, and the U.S. Attorney’s release remains the controlling record of what the court ordered on Sept. 22.
Phone numbers on people-search lists
Advance-fee pitches like the modeling story often begin with a cold call, text or email, and the contact details behind them can come from data brokers and people-search sites that publish or sell phone numbers and addresses. Incogni sends removal requests to those brokers on a customer’s behalf and keeps re-sending them, and each request’s status can be checked in the account. Less personal data on broker lists can mean fewer scam calls, texts and emails.
Open Incogni’s removal service to see how request tracking works → We may earn a commission if you buy through this link.
This article was produced with AI assistance and checked against the primary sources linked above.
Warren Cohen is a finance writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, covering personal finance topics including credit, banking, and beginner investing. He earned his degree in business administration from Arizona State University and began his career working in consumer finance, where he gained direct experience with lending and credit systems. He now writes for personal finance websites and fintech platforms, focusing on clear, practical content that helps readers make informed financial decisions.
