Lisa Schiff, a well-known art adviser, is said to have shut down her company, SFA Advisory, after loyal clients accused her of using the money from sales to scam them as part of a scheme that allegedly ran through her companies. Candace Carmel Barasch, a collector, and Richard Grossman, a lawyer, filed a lawsuit against Schiff on May 11 in New York Supreme Court. They said that Schiff had not paid them $1.8 million that she owed them after helping them sell a picture at Sotheby's Hong Kong. In court papers, there are five counts of breaking a contract, stealing, lying, breaking a trust, and working with someone else to do something wrong.
The lawsuit says that Schiff and her businesses have been running a Ponzi scheme by taking money, accounts, and artworks that clients gave them and using them and the money from selling them to pay for Schiff's own lavish lifestyle. It goes on to say that these personal costs include "a $25,000-a-month New York apartment," "international first-class travel with concierge services and limousine services, including vacations at five-star hotels," "shopping sprees in New York and Europe for designer clothes and jewelry," "private school tuition for her child," and "payments owed to other Schiff clients and her businesses." Schiff, her companies Schiff Fine Art and SFA Advisory, and ten other people whose names are unknown are all named as defendants.
The 2019 painting The Uncle 3 by Adrian Ghenie is at the center of the dispute. Schiff brought it to Barasch's attention as a possible buy in April 2021. Barasch bought it with Grossman and his wife. Barasch bought a 50% share, and Grossman and his wife each bought a 25% share. In December 2022, the three owners resold the work through Sotheby's Hong Kong for $2.5 million. Schiff helped make the deal. In the lawsuit, it is said that they made an oral deal that Schiff would get 10% of the net purchase price, which came out to be $250,000. Sotheby's didn't say anything. In January, Schiff gave Barasch and Grossman each $225,000. He is said to have promised that the rest of the money from the sales, which added up to $1.8 million, would arrive by March 26. The claim says that she then asked for a one-month delay, saying that it was "an accommodation to the buyers in Hong Kong," and then another two-week delay. On May 8, when the payment was due, Grossman's wife is said to have asked Schiff about the missing money. Schiff reportedly told her that she didn't have it and that she should call an attorney. The claim says that later conversations with Schiff's lawyer "showed that Schiff cannot pay the money owed, and that this is just the tip of the iceberg." "Plaintiffs are now the victims of the latest art con artist, and they have to go to court to get their money back."
Grossman and Barasch say that they have known Schiff for close to 20 years and that they think of her as family and a trusted advisor. Barasch has said that Schiff helped her make "informed decisions." She also says that Los Angeles dealer David Kordansky called her last summer to check on a payment for a piece of art she bought through Schiff. The lawsuit says, "Plaintiffs have recently learned that the defendants' failure to pay the Kordansky Gallery on time was part of their plan to cheat their clients." Barasch and Grossman want a hearing with a jury and want more than $2 million in damages. They also say that Schiff owes them the $250,000 commission he got from selling the picture, plus interest, and that they should get the painting right away. They don't know where it is at the moment.
Jean Dubreil