If the police are correct, Colin Chisholm III, 62, and Andrea Chisholm, 54, just may be the most outrageous welfare frauds in history. The Chisholms lived on a $1.2 million yacht when they were not in one of their expensive homes. However, they still collected more than $160,000 in state welfare benefits. They each face one count of welfare fraud. They also portrayed themselves as Lord Colin A.J. & Lady Chisholm of Struy.
It is a belong to fraudulently accept public assistance worth more than $35,000. The Chisholms are charged with lying to get food stamps, medical benefits, and other benefits from 2005 to 2012 in Minnesota and Florida. They collected welfare in both states at the same time.
While collecting welfare, they lived the high-life. Colin Chisholm claimed to be a Scottish aristocrat and identified himself as Lord Colin Chisholm, III and his wife as Lady Chisholm. He also claimed to be a wealthy and successful executive in the broadcasting industry as the chief executive officer of TCN Network. Andrea Chishom ran Strathglass Kennels, a real dog kennel that bred and sold pedigree championship puppies, according to Freeman. Police say that she never reported that income which leads to the question of why they are not also charged with tax evasion.
The bizarre fantasy world is still apparent on the Strathglasskennel site which says
“Strathglass Kennel has a long tradition going back to 1800 hundreds in Strathglass Scotland.
In 1912 in Westchester, New York Mr. Hugh J. Chisholm carried that traditions forward and today Colin A.J. and Lady Andrea Chisholm of Struy carry on a first rate Breeding and Show Kennel.”
One report says that they attempted to rip off friends in Florida by asking for a $100,000 investment in one of their homes that Colin claimed was a historic site. What is curious is that this couple appears have made some money. These homes and this boat did not come from welfare fraud. It is not clear what the source of that money is beyond the kennel operation.
Thus far, the case seems undercharged given the alleged scope of the deceptions allegedly perpetrated by the couple. I am not concerned with the lies about being royalty or his claim to be an executive. However, there appears to be a broad range of fraudulent acts alleged in the complaint beyond a single count of welfare fraud.
The 1% wants it all.
Could it be the virus genes that have made their way into the human genome?
Lol!
I am confident that Lord and Lady Chisholm will no longer be welcome at Downton Abbey.
Rafflaw, sadly it may be so. Makes a person wonder what happened to justice, we may have to rely on Karma. Sometimes it happens quicker than one might suppose.
rafflaw, There are some folks here who believe the two systems of justice, one for the wealthy and politically connected, and one for regular folk, should be righted by not prosecuting regular folk when they commit crimes. It’s called the Anarchy Fix. Please tell me, as an officer of the court, that you’re joking? Pleeease!
WTF??
They should get the same sentence that the banksters got for bringing down the economy. Or maybe the same sentence that the DuPont heir got in Delaware!
It takes me 5 minutes to put on my makeup and about 1 minute to do my hair, I learned how to do this in a hurry before work for 35 years. Now I have more time, takes me 10 minutes. I suppose if one was bald as a billiard ball it might take 10 seconds of head grooming.
annie – that is waaay toooo much information. 🙂
randy, I actually don’t think that mugshot is bad. She’s an attractive woman w/o a 5 hour, one time, makeup job. Now, the dude needs something done about those ears. Or, he could work as Dumbo @ Disneyworld.
Pretty low, when there are people who really need the help. Jail time and restitution, big time. They can reign supreme from behind bars.
It could be that they are holding them on the one charge while they are putting the others together. I am hoping that is the case. It does give the term “Welfare Queen” a whole new meaning. 🙂
Time for his and her royal highnesses to be dethroned
There’s no welfare fraud, avert your eyes from this post. SS disability has skyrocketed under King Obama, it’s called voter turnout, Chicago style. And, so as to preempt the “Yeah buts,” I call out corporate welfare every chance I get. Whenever there is government money fraud is rampant, because it’s not the govt.’s money, IT’S YOURS, and to politicians and bureaucrats, it grows on trees.
Hopefully Samantha sees this one.
Well I sure hope the judge does not send them to jail, I mean come on, they would’t fair well in jail with common criminals. I say let them spend a day in court and then send them home. Jail is for those that make less than $50,000/year.
This will, of course, be used as proof of vast welfare fraud that allows “young bucks” to eat T-Bone steaks, to quote St. Reagan, and the reason benefits must be cut. But as prof notes something well beyond $100,000 in welfare fraud across multiple states was going on here. Hopefully the Feds will drill down a bit and find where their real money was coming from. Its stunning that successful con artists would expose themselves for such low return. Even the bright criminals are not very smart
Randyjet
That’s a pretty sexist comment. Why shouldn’t HE look better as well with that much money? Why focus a comment on appearance only on the woman? Why is HER appearance at issue at all when the story is about welfare fraud—except to demean her as a woman?
Paul
Why the undercharging? Seems pretty obvious. This is Florida and they’re white. If they were black and trying to scam the system for $30 the charges would likely be quite different and broadcast on Fox News as having caught notorious welfare cheats. Consider the history of Medicare scammer (to the tune of millions) and current Governor Rick Scott.
randyjet – mugshots are rarely flattering. I think it was Tom DeLay who set the new standard by smiling through all of his. This has been picked up by many politicians and celebrities since then.
I made the remark about her appearance for a number of reasons. First to see how many folks would jump to her defense while not minding the fact that she is a crook. I guess that we cannot speak ill of the crooked. Then to hit her where she might feel ashamed since being a crook does not seem to bother those folks. Then just to make a remark tongue in cheek since her looks are the least of my objections to her.
I could not help but think that these people were only trying to get a better life for themselves and their family. Which makes me realize that if they were illegals, the pro-illegals and Latino lobby would demand that they be exempt from deportation since they only want those who are convicted of violent felonies deported, and even then they would object if the felon had family in the US. So I saw that the woman who fought deportation by taking refuge in a church in Chicago is BACK because she thinks that she has a right to be in the US since she has an American son. No matter that she plead guilty to THREE felonies, she still thinks she has the right to be an American. She crossed the border without papers again, and ICE released her and she is now living and working in Chicago until her hearing some many years in the future. They are right, the immigration system is broken, but only because Obama refuses to enforce the laws.
Yeah, these folks are also wanted in Wisconsin…… They used I believe the lady’s mothers bank account to run large amounts of funds through…. As well as had possession of an expensive house there as well…. Not bad when the mom is in a care facility and has Alzheimer’s …. For about the last 2 or 3 years….
You would think that with all that money, she could afford to look better.
Interesting! There’s probably more to this story that welfare fraud and calls for a thorough investigation as to how they were able to live so lavishly.
I do not understand the undercharging when a jaywalking ticket is usually accompanied by at least resisting arrest and assaulting an officer.
we all have a need to be loved and respected but this is totally over the top – these two need to be blasted for EVERY crime they have committed – does it seem that somehow they are STILL getting the consideration they have gotten used to because of their lies ?? Are the detectives still being fooled by the act ?? They have ripped off all of us with their outrageous scam.