The manager of Canadian singer Alanis Morissette has confessed to stealing millions of dollars from his client.
According to Deadline, Jonathon Schwartz, who has also managed the likes of Beyonce and Mariah Carey, admitted in a plea agreement with the US Attorney's office that he stole money from some of his clients and falsified account records to hide the theft.
While the sports and entertainment manager was found to have embezzled more than $6.5USD million from his clients, $4.8USD million of that number belonged to Morissette.
The news comes a year after the songwriter sued Schwartz for stealing her money.
"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," US attorney Eileen M Decker said.
"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."
Schwartz will appear in US District Court next month and faces a maximum penalty of 23 years in prison, however under the plea agreement, the sentence will likely be reduced to four to six years.
Comments