NEW YORK (AP) — A New York artwork adviser who as soon as counted actor Leonardo DiCaprio amongst her rich patrons was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in federal jail after admitting to dishonest shoppers out of $6.5 million in reference to the sale of 55 artistic endeavors.
Lisa Schiff sobbed as she turned to her former mates and shoppers seated behind her in Manhattan federal court docket and apologized to them by title.
“I stand here as a criminal who hurt clients, colleagues, and friends,” the 54-year-old Manhattan resident stated, calling herself a “coward” for hiding her deceit and “living lavishly” off cash stolen from individuals who had “loved and trusted” her.
“I am a guilty person and I am prepared to face my punishment,” Schiff stated tearfully. “I am scared, but I am ready.”
Schiff is to report back to jail July 1.
One in every of Schiff’s victims, Michael Barasch, advised the court docket that his household had embraced her as one in every of their very own, inviting her to household gatherings and vacation events.
“Your disgraceful conduct goes well beyond stolen money,“ he said. “You broke my wife’s heart. You were her best friend, or so she thought.”
Barasch estimated that Schiff’s victims stand to lose as a lot as $10 million when contemplating the prices of attorneys and different consultants they’ve employed to attempt to recoup a few of their losses by litigation.
“We’ll be lucky to get five cents on the dollar. No victim will ever be made whole,” he stated. “Shame on you.”
Decide J. Paul Oetken, in handing down the sentence, referred to as Schiff’s crimes “quite brazen,” noting her fraud continued for roughly 5 years and concerned greater than a dozen shoppers.
On the similar time, he famous that Schiff comes from a “loving family,” seemed to be sensible and considerate and was elevating a 12-year-old son as a single mom.
“She has a good side to her character,” Oetken stated. “How someone so talented can engage in this kind of behavior is a mystery.”
Schiff additionally was sentenced to 2 years of supervised launch, ordered to pay forfeiture of practically $6.5 million and restitution of greater than $9 million. She declined to remark outdoors the courtroom.
Schiff pleaded responsible to wire fraud in October, admitting that she defrauded shoppers of her artwork advisory enterprise, Schiff Positive Artwork.
Prosecutors say she bought paintings belonging to shoppers with out telling them or accepted their cash to purchase artwork that she didn’t find yourself buying.
They are saying Schiff used her shoppers as her “personal piggy bank,” funding a lavish way of life that included a $25,000-a-month condominium, a $2 million area for her enterprise and grand journeys to Europe, full with purchasing sprees at designer boutiques and stays at luxurious resorts.
On one trip, Schiff rented a Greek villa, yacht and helicopter, in keeping with prosecutors.
Unable to cover her mounting money owed, she finally confessed to a few of her shoppers in Might 2023.
DiCaprio had been amongst Schiff’s former shoppers as she constructed a decades-long profession within the artwork world. Prosecutors say amongst these she swindled have been 12 shoppers, an artist, the property of one other artist and an artwork gallery.
Wire fraud carries a sentence of as much as 20 years in jail, however, as a part of Schiff’s plea deal, prosecutors really useful a sentence of round 3 1/2 to 4 1/4 years behind bars.
In court docket Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Lawyer Cecilia Vogel implored Oetken to recollect the victims within the case, lots of whom wrote emotional letters to the court docket forward of Schiff’s sentencing.
“The fraud was truly extensive,” she stated. “The harm here is significant.”
Vogel argued Schiff solely got here clear about her crimes when it was clear they have been going to develop into public.
“She had reached some extent the place she couldn’t hold the fraud going any longer,“ Vogel stated.
Schiff’s lawyer, Randy Zelin, maintained his consumer has cooperated “on every imaginable level” within the felony investigation and efforts to recuperate among the stolen funds.
“My client can’t undo what happened,” he stated. “She can accept responsibility. She can be devastated about it. But the best she can do is move forward.”
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Comply with Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
