Judge One-Ups Prosecutors in Sentencing Alanis' Manager

Jonathan Schwartz gets 6 years for embezzling, instead of 5 they sought
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 4, 2017 5:51 AM CDT
Judge One-Ups Prosecutors in Sentencing Alanis' Manager
Jonathan Todd Schwartz, right, former business manager for singer Alanis Morissette, and attorney Nathan Hoffman leave U.S. federal court in Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

The business manager who stole millions from Alanis Morissette is going to prison. A judge in Los Angeles sentenced Jonathan Schwartz on Wednesday to six years, longer than prosecutors had sought, reports the AP. "I will spend the rest of my life asking for forgiveness," said Schwartz, who embezzled $5 million from Morissette and another $2 million from other clients while at GSO Business Management. The Canadian singer appeared at the sentencing, telling the judge that Schwartz "did this in a long, systematic, drawn-out, and sinister manner," and would have bankrupted her within another three years had the theft not been discovered in 2014.

Schwartz also was ordered to pay $8.6 million in restitution. Morissette and the other bilked clients have gotten their money back through insurance or GSO, notes CNN. Schwartz previously wrote an open letter published in the Hollywood Reporter apologizing and blaming an addiction to gambling. "He had us all fooled," said Morissette. Prosecutors sought about five years, but the judge added one more because of the "sheer audaciousness" of Schwartz's stealing. (The singer got another bad break when thieves stole about $2 million in valuables from a safe.)

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