The Manhattan artwork adviser Lisa Schiff, who admitted to stealing thousands and thousands of {dollars} shoppers gave her to purchase artwork, however which she as an alternative burned via to fund her lifetime of luxurious, was sentenced to 2 and a half years in federal jail on Wednesday.
U.S. District Choose J. Paul Oetken sentenced Ms. Schiff, 55, to 30 months in jail, adopted by two years supervised launch for perpetrating a scheme during which she stole about $6.5 million from over a dozen shoppers, a lot of whom she had cultivated into shut private mates. The fraud, during which Ms. Schiff would both make off with cash shoppers entrusted her with (to purchase them artwork), or siphon off proceeds of the gross sales of their collections that she helped facilitate, started in 2018 and got here to contain some 55 artworks. In 2023, after shoppers confronted her, Ms. Schiff turned herself in to the authorities. She pleaded guilty to at least one depend of wire fraud in October.
Because the scheme performed out, Ms. Schiff lived a jet-setting life alongside her shoppers, who stated in courtroom paperwork that that they had no concept it was their cash she was spending as she traveled with them on the artwork honest circuit, lavishing it on the likes of purchasing sprees and chartered helicopters. The revelations surrounding Ms. Schiff shook the artwork world, during which she had risen to prominence as a one time adviser to Leonardo DiCaprio, and the place she positioned herself as an moral authority within the largely unregulated enterprise of artwork advising, or guiding rich collectors on what works to purchase.
“For 5 years, Lisa Schiff breached the belief of her artwork advisory shoppers by diverting thousands and thousands of {dollars} to pay her personal enterprise and private bills, and to fund a lavish way of life,” the Performing U.S. legal professional, Matthew Podolsky, stated in an announcement on Wednesday. “Due to Schiff’s lies, and her illusory artwork advisory rip-off, Schiff will now serve a considerable sentence in jail.”
Reached by textual content message, Ms. Schiff, who has been dwelling in Stuyvesant City in Manhattan together with her 12-year-old son as she awaited sentencing, declined to remark and responded to this reporter’s inquiry with “no remark” and a coronary heart emoji.
In a previous interview with The New York Times, her first since pleading responsible, Ms. Schiff stated she had been affected by dependancy points on the time. She expressed regret for her actions, significantly as they associated to her youngster, whom she raises alone. Within the interview, she stated her son shall be cared for by her brother whereas she serves her sentence. “I really feel so responsible to my victims, so responsible,” she stated on the time. “However I’m shocked that I didn’t suppose via what I used to be doubtlessly doing to my son,” Ms. Schiff added.
