Alanis Morissette's manager Jonathan Todd Schwartz has been cheating his clients out of a lot of money.
He confessed to embezzling $4.8 million from Morissette, who has already sued him over the lost funds. On top of that, he says he's embezzled from two other clients, making for a total of $6.5 million stolen.
Schwartz heads to court on February 1, and he'll plead guilty to committing wire fraud and lying on his tax return. Since he didn't declare his embezzled money, he owes the IRS $1.7 million.
"Schwartz was caught with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar," Anthony J. Orlando, acting special agent in charge of IRS Criminal Investigation, told Deadline. “No matter what the source of income, all income is taxable."
His offenses could justify up to 23 years in prison, but he'll likely be let off easier for pleading guilty. His sentence could be as short as four years.
"Money managers have fiduciary and moral responsibilities to their clients that begin with preserving client assets and not using that money to line their own pockets," U.S. Attorney Eileen M. Decker told Deadline. “This defendant violated this basic principle, and then engaged in further criminal conduct by attempting to hide his ill-gotten gains from the Internal Revenue Service. Despite those efforts, however, the defendant will now face serious consequences for victimizing his clients and American taxpayers.”
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