Alanis Morissette sues for fraud over missing $4.7M
Did Alanis Morissette’s former business manager rob her of US$4.7 million to enjoy a lavish lifestyle? Or did he invest it into illegal marijuana growing concerns on her behalf?
The Canadian singer songwriter is suing Jonathan Schwartz and the company he was formerly a partner in, GSO Business Managementfor $15 million, for breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, fraud and negligence.
Scwartz, whose other clients included Mariah Carey and Beyonce, looked after Morissette’s financial empire from 2009 to March 2016 when she sacked him for not coming up with the right answers about her money.
The singer songwriter’s personal fortune is estimated at $45 million from music, film, TV and stage.
Jagged Little Pill, her first international release (and third album) from June 1995, had by last year sold 33 million. These included over 15 million in the United States and 2 million in Canada. In Australia it shifted almost 1 million copies, staying at #1 for 10 weeks, and is the 11th biggest seller in Australian history. It is the 14th best seller ever in New Zealand, certified 14x Platinum for sales of 200,000 units.
According to papers filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Schwartz’s duties were to invest her money and pay bills on her behalf. But her new business manager Howard Grossman found 116 transfers worth $4.7 million from her accounts to his. She says she never authorised these, was unaware of them, and documents allegedly do not exist.
Schwartz claimed the $4.7 million had been put into illegal marijuana businesses. Morisette also alleges that he’d also transferred $8 million from her investments, that were not to be touched, to pay for expenses. The court papers say he kept assuring her that she was “set for life” financially while, they cited, was living a lifestyle which included a $50,000 vacation to Bora Bora and racking up a $75,000 debt in a casino in the Bahamas.
Morisette, a practising Buddhist after being raised a Roman Catholic, is expecting her second child with her husband, rapper Mario “Souleye” Treadway.
Jobs
