Lisa Schiff, a former art advisor based in Manhattan, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for defrauding her clients of approximately $6.5 million over several years. The sentencing was delivered by U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken following an announcement by Matthew Podolsky, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
"For five years, Lisa Schiff breached the trust of her art advisory clients by diverting millions of dollars to pay her own business and personal expenses, and to fund a lavish lifestyle," said Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky. "Because of Schiff’s lies, and her illusory art advisory scam, Schiff will now serve a substantial sentence in prison."
The fraudulent activities occurred between 2018 and May 2023 through Schiff's company, Schiff Fine Art (SFA). As an intermediary between art collectors and galleries or auction houses, she advised on purchasing and selling artworks. However, instead of using client funds as intended for transactions or remitting sales proceeds back to them, she diverted these funds for personal use.
Schiff's deceit involved not informing clients when their artworks were sold or failing to purchase promised artworks on their behalf despite receiving payment from them. In some instances, she misled clients about the status of their artworks' sale or blamed payment delays on them when dealing with galleries.
In 2020, although considering confessing to at least two victims through drafted letters which were never sent, she continued her fraudulent practices until debts became insurmountable in May 2023. At this point, she admitted her actions to several clients.
In addition to imprisonment, the court ordered Schiff to two years of supervised release and mandated forfeiture payments amounting to $6,408,538.20 along with restitution totaling $9,147,789.26.
Mr. Podolsky acknowledged the efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Art Crime Team in handling this case alongside Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cecilia Vogel and Jennifer Ong from the Office’s Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Unit.