Yale Schiff, a businessman from suburban Chicago, received a three-year prison sentence for federal bank fraud on Jan. 27, in connection to a case in which he obtained millions of dollars in credit using stolen identities and forged documents.
According to prosecutors, Schiff, 50, of Riverwoods, Ill., perpetrated his crimes by falsifying application documents to financial institutions by lying about his employment, income, and encumbrances on collateral. Once he’d been granted the mortgage loans on false pretenses, Schiff then filed false documents with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, causing the fraudulent release of the liens and keeping the loan proceeds for himself.
Schiff then used the same mortgaged properties for multiple loans, fraudulently removing the liens and pocketing the balance each time. This caused lenders to take heavy financial losses.
Fake and stolen identities were used to commit the fraud; Schiff bought cars under these false names, removed liens, and sold them for profit. He also opened bank accounts and credit lines using these identities, funding them with money from other fraudulent sources, including cards belonging to an elderly woman in care and a deceased friend.
Schiff pleaded guilty in connection to this case in 2023. In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland ordered him to pay nearly $3 million in restitution.
The sentence was announced by Morris Pasqual, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, Douglas DePodesta, special agent-in-charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI, and Ruth Mendonça, inspector-in-charge of the Chicago Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
“(The) defendant, over the course of at least 13 years, engaged in a calculated, sustained, prolonged, multi-faceted scheme to defraud multiple financial institutions, individual buyers of property, and individuals whose identity he used,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg said in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “Defendant’s conduct was prolonged, willful, and widespread.”
Schiff’s brother, Jason Schiff, of Lincolnwood, Ill., and a business associate, David Izsak, of Chicago, were also charged as part of the federal investigation. Jason Schiff pleaded guilty to causing a false report and statement to be made to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Jason Schiff was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay $306,610 in restitution.
A jury convicted Izsak on 10 counts of financial institution fraud. Izsak is awaiting sentencing.