Alanis Morissette’s former manager sentenced to six years in prison
[Image credit: KTLA]
It's hard to imagine what the '90s might have been like without Alanis Morissette, especially her 1995 release Jagged Little Pill, but now the singer is back in the news after her former manager stole $5 million from the singer.
Check out how it happened below.
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Jonathan Todd Schwartz sobbed in court as he was sentenced to six years in prison after not only stealing millions from Alanis Morissette but from other artists as well. Schwartz was also ordered to pay $8.6 million in restitution.
The Washington Post reported that Schwartz, “pleaded guilty to wire fraud and filing a false tax return after admitting to stealing almost $5 million from Morissette between May 2010 and January 2014 and $1.7 million from two other clients.”
Variety spoke to Morissette reporting, “'He not only stole $5 million in cash from me, he stole a dream,' Morissette said, detailing how Schwartz would cry when she questioned him too pointedly about her finances, 'taking advantage of my empathic nature.'”
They went on to write that Morissette revealed that “he’d made it difficult for her to trust again.”
Schwartz worked for GSO Business Management whose clients include 50 Cent and Tom Petty and offers services in royalty services and tour accounting.
“I’d go on tours he recommended and they would lose money, but he’d still urge me to spend. Spend. Spend. He was creating an alibi from the start,” said the Canadian singer.
Schwartz wrote an open letter to The Hollywood Reporter back in April, revealing that he had a gambling addiction that begun in college.
“I lived a double life since no one other than my bookie knew I had this “dark” side. 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. 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. By seeing how pathetic I had become, I finally got the courage to ask for help … As a result of incredible friends and my sponsor, I am now 336 days sober after committing myself wholeheartedly to the Beit T’shuvah intensive outpatient program and the Gambler’s Anonymous program and meetings.”
However, the prosecution weren't convinced by Schwartz' desire to go clean as Assistant U.S. Attorney Ranee Katzenstein wrote in court papers, “Every expression of remorse he has made and every purported act of self-improvement he has taken occurred only after he realized he had no ‘choice’ to do otherwise.”
