FRIENDS WITH MONEY

It may be the world's fastest growing profession: "advisor" to a rich pal. But the pitfalls are vast just ask the main characters from the New York art world's latest cautionary tale.

- IAN FRISCH

Adam Sheffer wanted his money.

It was May 8, 2023, and Sheffer, a veteran art dealer and former executive at Pace Gallery and Lisson Gallery, stood face to face with Lisa Schiff, an art advisor and founder of SFA Advisory, who over the past two decades has acted as an art market fortune teller for the rich, famous, and powerful. Schiff could seemingly do it all: unearth the next hot painter, find highly coveted classics, negotiate sales at breakneck speed, and defy conventional wisdom by acting as a genuine mentor rather than a stuffy art snob.

Sheffer had been a client and close friend of Schiff's for years. She was a conduit through which he bought and sold fine art. Sheffer's most recent sale was an Adrian Ghenie painting. It was jointly owned with his husband, real estate developer Richard Grossman, and the real estate heiress Candace Barasch-who also happened to be one of Schiff's best friends.

Schiff offloaded the painting for $2.5 million in late 2022 through Sotheby's Hong Kong, and she transferred to Sheffer and Barasch $225,000 each from the sale back in January. But she still owed them $1.8 million. Sheffer asked Schiff when he and Barasch would get their money.

Schiff had built a brand so steadfast, so unimpeachable, and she had counted so many of the art world's elite as friends and confidants including Leonardo DiCaprio, her most high-profile client-that Sheffer was shocked when Schiff told him that she didn't have the money and that he should call her lawyer.

These allegations form the basis of a lawsuit by Grossman and Barasch against Schiff and her advising companies filed in the spring. One month later Barasch and her husband filed a second lawsuit against Schiff and her companies relating to other artwork dealings. According to the allegations in these lawsuits, when Schiff told Sheffer she didn't have the money, she just turned around and walked away.