Tucson Region

$24M swindle brings 32 years

A Tucson woman who bilked $24 million from hundreds of investors was sentenced Wednesday to nearly 32 years in prison. Judge Christopher Browning of Pima County Superior Court lambasted Maryanne Chisholm, 40, noting she engaged in "an obscene orgy of excess" and her victims ended up filing for bankruptcy, seeking psychiatric treatment and losing homes. Although Chisholm may suffer from a bipolar disorder and depression, the evidence was "overwhelming" that Chisholm has a criminal mind and calculated every move in her scheme, Browning said. After a seven-week trial, Chisholm was convicted Oct. 21 on 54 counts of selling unregistered securities, three counts of fraudulent schemes and artifices, and one count of illegally conducting an enterprise. Chisholm owned Safari Media, which developed state-of-the-art Web sites and voice-over Internet technology while dabbling in the world of techno and trance music. Chisholm convinced 1,200 victims that they were buying stock in an established company that, at different times, was on the verge of merging with various companies including Toshiba, the electronics corporation, according to Assistant Attorney General John Evans. Once the merger took place, Chisholm led investors to believe, their $1-per-share stock would soar to $33. No merger ever took place, however, and the evidence showed Chisholm used investors' funds to fly private jets to exotic locales such as Puerto Vallarta and to splurge on shopping trips to Rodeo Drive and Neiman Marcus. Seized records show Chisholm and her husband, Mark, spent $3.2 million on their American Express Card, $219,000 on brokerage accounts, $156,000 for home furnishings and art, $150,000 on personal loans and $510,000 on vehicles. Chisholm and her husband were convicted in a related case in which they were accused of buying three paintings for about $480,000 with Safari Media funds, then hiding the artwork after the business was placed in court-ordered receivership. In September, Mark Chisholm was still serving a six-month jail term. Maryanne Chisholm also faces jail time in that case. The couple appealed. While Maryanne Chisholm may have spent the company's funds too lavishly, it was actually her underlings who weren't aboveboard with investors, defense attorney Andrew Diodati told jurors. When rendering his sentence, Browning also expressed his displeasure that Chisholm refused to accept responsibility for her actions, instead choosing to blame "anyone and everyone" for her mistakes. In asking for leniency, Diodati cited Chisholm's mental-health issues, substantial family and community support and the ages of her parents and three children, 9, 14 and 16. While some people called for Chisholm's death in dozens of letters to the judge, Diodati said others hoped she could remain free so she could work to repay them. The defense attorney recommended Chisholm receive 7.5 years in prison with eight years' probation to follow. "This was not a crime of violence," Diodati said. Evans didn't specify an appropriate sentence. "What is a just sentence I leave to you, but a just sentence would be one that doesn't leave her in a position to do anything like this again," Evans told Browning. Browning could have sentenced Chisholm as few as five years or more than 300 years. He gave her 27.25 years on the fraudulent-schemes-and-artifices counts and for illegally conducting an enterprise. He then gave her 4.5 years for each of the securities counts, but ran them concurrently with each other but consecutively to the other sentence. The judge also ordered Chisholm to pay $21.79 million in restitution, saying whatever she makes at her prison job will go toward the restitution.