Chicago City Wire

A businessman from suburban Chicago has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for bank fraud. Yale Schiff was found guilty of fraudulently obtaining millions in mortgage and vehicle loans, as well as using stolen identities to secure credit from financial institutions.

Schiff acquired these loans by making false statements about his employment, income, and the encumbrances on the collateral he pledged. He then filed false documents with the Cook County Recorder of Deeds to release liens fraudulently, pocketing the proceeds and causing losses to lenders. The properties were used multiple times for different loans through fraudulent lien removals.

In addition to mortgages, Schiff used false identities to purchase vehicles, remove liens fraudulently, and sell them for profit. He also opened bank accounts and lines of credit under aliases, funding them with advances from other fraudulent sources. In one case, he used a credit card belonging to an elderly woman in a memory care facility; in another instance, he utilized a card issued in the name of a deceased friend.

Yale Schiff pleaded guilty in 2023 to federal bank fraud charges. On January 16, 2025, U.S. District Judge Mary M. Rowland ordered him to pay $2,955,954 in restitution alongside his prison sentence.

The announcement came from Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI's Chicago Field Office; and Ruth Mendonça, Inspector-in-Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Chicago Division.

“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 stated during sentencing arguments.

Schiff’s brother Jason Schiff from Lincolnwood and business associate David Izsak from Chicago were also implicated in this investigation. Jason Schiff admitted guilt for causing false reports to be made to HUD and received three years probation along with $306,610 restitution obligations. Meanwhile, Izsak was convicted on ten counts related to financial institution fraud and is awaiting sentencing.