Wealthy Minnesota Couple Scams More Than $165,000 From Welfare System

[HipChick]

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/blog/law/2014/03/deephaven-couple-charged-with-using-welfare-to-pad.html

A Deephaven couple accused of obtaining public assistance while living a luxurious lifestyle is believed to have fled the country.

Andrea Chisholm, 54, and Colin Chisholm III, 62, were charged with taking more than $167,000 in state welfare benefits despite buying an 83-foot yacht for $1.2 million, having nearly $3 million in the bank and living in a luxurious lakefront home in Deephaven, according to court documents filed by the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

Between 2005 and 2012, prosecutors say the couple not only drew on public health care assistance in Minnesota, but also received food stamps, cash and medical assistance from Florida welfare programs at the same time.

Colin Chisholm is listed as CEO and founder of Miami-based TCN Inc. The couple also bred and sold championship pedigree Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppies through their Strathglass Kennel, and are listed as members of the Lake Minnetonka Kennel Club.

Hennepin County Sheriff's deputies have been unable to find the couple after a month of searching, prosecutors said. They are believed to have fled the United States, according to court documents. Investigators determined that they cashed out a $120,000 check in $100 bills in September.

The couple could not be reached for comment.

[HipChick]

1. I guess these must be the welfare kings and queens the Rethugs are always talking about

[Sarah Ibarruri]

2. Apparently they were wealthy aristocrats. The rich are a piece of work, aren't they?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2586418/Scottish-aristocrats-luxury-lakeside-home-charged-fraud.html

Colin Chisholm III, 62, and his wife Lady Andrea, 54, of Deephaven, Minnesota, have been charged with wrongfully obtaining thousands of dollars between 2005 and 2012 from various government assistance programs.

Along with a million-dollar yacht called the Andrea Aras, the couple have a grand, six-bedroom lakeside home, a beach property in Florida and a $30,000 Lexus, investigators found.

Colin Chisholm III, claims he is from a long line of Scottish aristocracy and is a wealthy broadcasting executive, according to court filings today.

[Nye Bevan]

3. Some of them, certainly. But bear in mind that there are 3.1 million Americans in the 1%.

I don't think they are all like that.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. No, but the rich are benefiting from the public trough more than the rest of the nation anyway nt

[HipChick]

5. 1%?

Wannabe's

[Earth_First]

7. Absolutely.

These are the types that have been duped into the thinking that they are welcomed as "one of them"

Where the ultra-wealthy who are pulling the strings look upon these folks as the 'useless idiots' of whom their scam depends on.

Unfortunately, there's just enough of these individuals who have been duped to make the grift work.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

13. You might be right. They might be 1% wannabes! nt

[tanyev]

9. Doubt it.

Since they're white and were already wealthy, it means they were simply taking advantage of all the loopholes that exist in the system.

[hobbit709]

6. How much you want to bet they voted republican too

[HipChick]

8. I don't doubt...

[jwirr]

12. Is Deephave in Bachmann's district?

[meow2u3]

10. So, let's ruin it for those who get their welfare honestly

[jwirr]

11. Forget finding the couple. Confiscate their property and use it to pay for the money they stold.

They will soon surface when they begin to loose everything they own.

I am also curious about how they managed to get this help without going through the same hoops the rest of us have to go through. We have to verify everything. That includes what we own, what we earn and what we save. Someone in Hennepin was not checking these things out. The home would have surely raised questions even though it would have been exempt because it was their home. But it is no doubt in an area that would be too expensive for the average welfare recipient.

I am wondering if they did not falsify their applications - false addresses, names, circumstances?

[BeyondGeography]

14. K&R

[mythology]

15. What I don't get

is that with the assets listed like the 1.2 million dollar yacht and the 3 million in the bank, what did they need to scam 167,000 dollars for? That's a relatively small amount. It just seems like the reward isn't there for the risk taken.

But I suppose I'm trying to apply logic to people who are clearly selfish asshats. They probably assumed they were too smart to get caught, or wouldn't be punished if they were.

[HipChick]

16. That puzzled me as well...

[MrScorpio]

17. Greed

Pure and simple.