Lisa Schiff, a prominent art adviser who was accused of swindling her clients out of millions of dollars, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in a New York court on Thursday.
Schiff was the subject of two lawsuits last year in which collectors accused her of defrauding them. She filed for bankruptcy in January, with nearly $7 million allegedly owed to galleries, storage facilities, and more, according to documents processed at the time.
“For years, Lisa Schiff breached the trust of her art advisory clients by lying to them and diverting millions of dollars her clients had entrusted to her,” said US attorney Damian Williams in a statement. “Instead of using client funds as promised, Schiff used the stolen money to fund a lavish lifestyle. Today’s guilty plea serves as a reminder that the Southern District of New York will vigorously investigate and prosecute those who engage in fraud wherever we may find them, including the art market.”
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The court’s release said that Schiff had agreed to forfeit $6.4 million. The count of wire fraud to which she pleaded guilty carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years. Her sentencing has been scheduled for January.
Both lawsuits against Schiff were filed in 2023. In the first, collector Candace Carmel Barasch and Richard Grossman claimed that Schiff had assisted them in the sale of an Adrian Ghenie painting and that she still owed them $1.8 million. In the second, Barasch and her husband Michael alleged that they had provided Schiff with $6.6 million, with the purpose of using it to buy art. The Barasches and Grossman said they never received those pieces, and Schiff allegedly used the money to fund “luxury travel, shopping sprees, and the like, or to pay obligations owed to other clients, or to purchase artworks for other clients,” according to that suit.
Prior to those lawsuits, Schiff was one of the preeminent art advisers based in New York. Her client list had at one point included the actor Leonardo DiCaprio. Schiff has since shuttered her firm, SFA Advisory.
Gradually, works held by that advisory have been auctioned off, with some earmarked for sale at Phillips next month. The works set for the Phillips sale are by artists such as Damien Hirst, Judy Chicago, and Richard Prince, and have been given a collective estimate of $2 million.
The Southern District of New York’s release about Schiff’s guilty plea specified that she “defrauded at least twelve clients, one artist, the estate of another artist, and one gallery,” although it did not detail who was being referenced.
“Today marks not the end but the beginning of the remaking of Lisa Schiff,” Randy Zelin, a lawyer for Schiff, told ARTnews. “She has accepted responsibility for what she has done—she has looked hard at herself in the mirror. She has been working and will continue to work amends.”