Alanis Morissette's Ex-Manager Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison for Embezzling Millions

The singer said she would have ended up bankrupt had he continued

By Samantha Schnurr May 04, 2017 2:37 PMTags
Alanis Morissette,AP Photo/Chris Pizzello

Alanis Morissette's ex-manager had a hand in her pocket wallet and now he's going to jail for it. 

Jonathan Todd Schwartz, the Grammy winner's ex manager, was sentenced to six years in prison on Wednesday for criminal charges connected to embezzling more than $7 million from his famous clients in the course of six years, including the "You Oughta Know" songstress. Schwartz was also ordered to pay $8.6 million in restitution.

The accountant took roughly $5 million from the songstress over the course of four years, a scheme orchestrated in a "long, systematic, drawn-out, and sinister manner," as Morissette described in court. The songstress also claimed, had the scheme continued, she would have ended up bankrupt. 

"I alone am responsible for the devastation," he said in the hearing. "I will spend the rest of my life asking for forgiveness."

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"Mr. Schwartz used his clients' funds as a personal ATM machine and, in doing so, financially victimized his clients and colleagues," said Deirdre Fike, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, told CNN

Morissette learned of his theft when she hired a new money manager. When Schwartz's firm, GSO Business Management, was contacted with allegations of fraud, Schwartz claimed Morissette was addicted to drugs and mentally unstable and that he had invested the money in an illegal marijuana company. He was subsequently fired. 

He pleaded guilty to tax fraud and wire fraud charges in February and penned an explanation of his downward spiral for The Hollywood Reporter, blaming his behavior on a mounting gambling addiction. 
"At first, I 'borrowed' a little from clients, with the hopes that I would pay them back if I won that night's bet. That snowballed, and as I kept losing, I kept stealing," he explained. "I kept telling myself that I just needed one lucky break, and I'll pay them back. That lucky break never came—thankfully. I say thankfully because when I was finally caught, a bright spotlight shined on my deplorable conduct. I could not hide any longer and hit rock bottom."
 
Morissette and the other clients who were victims of his theft were reimbursed by his firm or insurance.