Warning. This episode contains details that some listeners may find disturbing. He managed money for Beyonce as well as other A-list musicians, actors and athletes. He was trusted by some of the biggest names in the biz until he wasn't. In 2017, Jonathan Todd Schwartz, once a powerful business manager to the stars, was sentenced to six years in federal prison for embezzling over $7 million from his own clients, including more than 4 million from singer Alanis Morissette.
What would drive someone with so much access, influence and success to risk it all? Greed. Addiction. Drug abuse? Today, Schwartz is a licensed addiction counselor and therapist at Altus Rehab. But before that, he was at the center of one of the most shocking betrayals in the entertainment industry. Join me as we venture into a unique situation for a study of strange, where I interview Jonathan Todd Schwartz himself about his story, one of deception, rock bottom, and redemption.
White collar crime may not be discussed a lot in true crime shows. Maybe because it doesn't leave blood at the scene, but in this case, the wreckage was just as real. This is a study of strange. Welcome back to the show. I'm Michael. Today we're doing things a little bit differently. I have a special guest with me who I'm very interested to talk with. Jonathan Todd Schwartz. Jonathan, thank you for being here. Welcome to the show.
So an interesting topic to me, I think in any criminal story is where does criminal behavior begin? Where does it start? How did how did your experience in that world where did that start? Where did that come from? Yes. Yeah. Right. For sure. Yeah. Right. And let me ask you this. And I'm sure it's different with everybody that's involved with white collar crime. So I don't want to put you. I don't want to have you speak for everybody.
However, it seems to me when I read about stories of of other white collar criminals or anything like that, that there's this part where it almost seems like they know they're going to get caught, but it's that it's that chase, it's that a little bit of a of an addiction like you're talking about, but you're just digging the hole deeper and deeper and deeper. Would that be the right way to kind of think about that? Yeah. So that came about after you had started gambling and all of that.
Oh. That's interesting. Yeah. Oh, my. Yeah. let's back up. Now I want to hear how you got involved with business management. How you ended up at a very great firm. In and around Los Angeles. But yeah. Take me back to the beginning. How did you get that job? How did you start to get introduced to the clientele that you had? Oh, yeah.
Yeah. Right. So let's, This is actually a great place just to explain, I think, what a business manager does specifically with people in entertainment, because I'm sure that might be slightly different than the other high net worth individuals that need a business manager. But yeah, walk us through kind of what you do and also what you have access to, because that plays a role in this story as well. Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. And I think just by saying you wear many different hats.
I think that's a really important aspect to what you did. Why can I ask, was it Alanis account that you started with? Right. Got it, got it. And how long until your your. I'll call it an addiction. I hope that's okay to call it that, but. Right. So how long until you started to dip into other accounts from other clients? Yeah. what led to you getting caught? Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
I can only imagine. And. And I know just from other research in you that those relationships are being rehabilitate to sort of as we speak. And I'd love to hear a little bit about that and, and your next steps moving forward. But before I do, I do have just a curiosity kind of thing about the the polygraph. As much as you failed, isn't it still inadmissible in court or do they still use that? Got it, got it. Okay, okay. But after that you knew you were in trouble.
Everybody else knew that you were in trouble saying that you're coming clean. People are figuring things out. How long of that process through court and every day had to be like a years long process through the sentencing and everything. Yeah. Tell me about that. Okay. Did you go to prison for a period of time? Wow. Yeah. So you seem to have a very, a great head on your shoulders, meaning, self-awareness, reflection. And it looks like you're.
And obviously, that work will never end now for the rest of your life. But how long did it take you to start coming to terms? It sounds like you kind of started to to come to terms with things relatively quickly. Yeah. Yeah. That's wonderful. And I can only imagine that. I think there's an internal personal therapy, if you will, to giving back and helping others.
I feel like that's the best way forward And you also have this, I think because of that step of your journey, your story is a bit of a Hollywood story. And I don't just mean that because you work with big Hollywood clients, but you do have this great character arc, so to speak. And I've heard you mentioned before books and movies. Can you tell us a little bit about things going on in that world? Right. Right.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, in a weird way, it does almost seem easy being in the position you were in to take money to be like. Oh, I'll just use a little of this right here. Because of the type of access and because people probably don't always ask for those sorts documents. Right, right. Well, I can't thank you enough for being on the show today, Jonathan. Is there anything else that you want to add before we say goodbye?
Great. And I'll provide some links to those in the show notes for anybody, as well. It's a fascinating story. I wish you all the luck. I'll be following you as well. Thank you for listening to the show. Before you go real quick. I have one thing I want to ask. Please go check out our Substack. You can find it through the support tab of our website. A study of strange.com subscribers to our Substack. Gain access to episodes early without commercials.
Also additional content like articles about other strange and mysterious phenomena and topics. As a truly independent podcast. Subscribing is the best way to support the show and make sure that we can continue to make a study of strange. And until next time. Thank you and good night.