A Riverwoods businessman has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for stealing $3 million through mortgage and vehicle loans obtained using stolen identities.
Yale Schiff, 50, of Riverwoods, pleaded guilty in 2023 to a federal bank fraud charge in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.
U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland sentenced Schiff earlier this month to three years in federal prison.
She also ordered him to pay $2,955,954 in restitution.
Prosecutors said Schiff fraudulently obtained mortgage loans, vehicle loans, lines of credit and credit cards by making false statements to financial institutions regarding his employment, income and encumbrances on the collateral he pledged for the loans.
After obtaining the loans, Schiff filed false documents with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, causing the fraudulent release of the liens.
Schiff pocketed the loan proceeds, causing losses to the lenders, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Schiff used the same mortgaged properties for multiple loans, each time fraudulently removing the lien and keeping the proceeds.
Schiff used various false and stolen identities to carry out his fraud scheme, prosecutors said.
He bought vehicles under the false identities and fraudulently removed liens on the cars before selling them for a profit, prosecutors said.
Schiff also opened bank accounts and lines of credit using the false identities and other aliases — funding the accounts with advances from other fraudulently obtained lines of credit and credit cards.
Prosecutors said that Schiff, in one instance, used a credit card issued in the name of an elderly woman whom he knew was in a memory care facility at the time, and in another instance, he used a credit card issued in the name of a friend who was dead.
“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 H. Mecklenburg argued in a sentencing memorandum.
“Defendant’s conduct was prolonged, willful, and widespread,” Mecklenburg said.
Schiff’s brother, Jason Schiff, of Lincolnwood, 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 ten counts of financial institution fraud and he is awaiting sentencing.