Minnesota prosecutors announced on Friday that a couple currently living on a yacht in Florida will be charged with fraud after years of wrongfully accepting food stamps and other public assistance.
The couple have accepted over $165,000 in public assistance since 2005 and up until 2012 when their scheme was discovered and benefits were immediately cancelled. The names of the millionaires collecting food stamps? Husband Colin Chrisholm III and his wife Andrea Chrisholm.
The couple is reported to have been living in a yacht they purchased almost a decade ago in 2005. According to records, this yacht (named ‘The Andrea Aras’) was purchased shortly after applying for Minnesota welfare benefits. The couple is accused of lying about living in Minnesota while actually residing at the yacht near the Palm Beach area of Florida.
The Chrisholms are not only the owners of a yacht, the family also owns a massive six bedroom lakeside home, Florida beach property, and a Lexus worth around thirty thousand dollars. Where does this wealth come from? Colin Chrisholm was the cheif executive officer at a satellite television company and his wife raised and bred championship dogs. The couple is reported to have over $2.6 million in bank accounts. This wealth was not reported on welfare benefit applications, hence the fraud charges.
Colin Chrisholm and his wife are each being charged with a felony count of wrongfully obtaining public assistance in excess of $35,000. Charges against Colin Chrisholm were filed in February, his wife’s charges were filed last Thursday. Currently the couple’s whereabouts are unclear, as police are still looking for them.