Alanis Morissette Sues Ex-Manager

Alanis Morissette sued her former business manager for $15 million, claiming he stole millions from her bank accounts and then claimed she was funding illegal marijuana businesses in a failed bid to cover his tracks. In a lawsuit against Jonathan Schwartz and his company GSO Business Management, Morissette says that when her new manager Howard Grossman found that almost $4.7 million in cash had been transferred from her accounts, Schwartz denied any wrongdoing.

In the Superior Court complaint for breach of fiduciary duty, conversion, fraud and negligence, the singer says that when Grossman confronted Schwartz, her ex-manager put it down to Morissette’s predilection for having large amounts of cash on hand.

“Schwartz replied that Morissette ‘spends a lot of cash so I get large amounts from the bank, and keep the money in my safe so that when she needs cash, we don’t need to go to the bank each time,'” the complaint states. “This statement was false. During the course of her representation by defendants, Morissette did not spend large amounts of cash and never received more than a few hundred dollars in cash from defendants at any given time.”

Then Schwartz changed his story, and said he did not receive signed receipts for the transactions because Morissette had used the money for illegal marijuana cultivation investments, according to the complaint.

Morrissette, 41, says Grossman uncovered the fraud after combing through financial records that Schwartz had delivered in 26 boxes. She says Schwartz took the money in 116 cash transfers over four years, from Jan 1, 2010 to Jan. 31, 2014.

Morrissette says Schwartz was her manager from 2009 until March this year, when she fired him. She says Schwartz concealed the state of her finances by assuring her she was set for life, and persuaded her to turn down a massive payday to do five Las Vegas shows by telling her that she did not need the money.

“Defendants concealed distributions from Morissette, convincing her that she was in tremendous financial shape when, in fact, they were draining her assets and leading her on a road that could have led to financial ruin,” the 9-page lawsuit says.

Morissette is represented by Allen Grodky with Santa Monica firm Grodsky & Olecki. GSO Business Management of Sherman Oaks did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Tuesday.

But in a May 16 lawsuit, GSO sued Schwartz to judicially expel him from the firm. That complaint says that an in-house investigation revealed that Schwartz was “burning through money to sustain a lavish lifestyle” and spent $50,000 on a vacation to Bora Bora. He also owes $75,000 to a casino in the Bahamas and a “substantial sum” in unpaid federal taxes, according to that lawsuit, also in Superior Court.

According to the complaint, Schwartz had more than one client. After he was suspended his clients were passed on to other managers, the firm says.

Source: Entertainment Law Digest
Image owner: Justin Higuchi / Creative Common License