Gambling, Lies, and Millions Stolen from Celebrities

What happens when the drive to succeed masks deep emotional wounds and addiction? In this episode, Jonathan Schwartz shares a powerful and painfully honest account of how his life unraveled. 

Once one of Hollywood’s most trusted financial advisors, Jonathan worked with icons like Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, and Gwyneth Paltrow. On the surface, he had it all. But underneath the success was a secret struggle with gambling and drug addiction that led him to steal millions from the very clients who trusted him most. 

His fall from grace was dramatic and public, ending in a prison sentence and the loss of everything he had built. But that wasn’t the end of his story. Today, Jonathan is sober and rebuilding his life with purpose. As Program Director at Altus Rehab, he now helps others find their own way out of addiction and shame. His story is raw, real, and full of hard-earned wisdom for anyone who has ever felt like they couldn’t ask for help.

Show Notes:

• [01:30] Jonathan is a different person from who he was. He grew up in Upstate New York and his father left when he was four. His mom had a lot of stress and took it out on him which created childhood trauma.
• [03:34] Accounting was the subject that he was good at.
• [05:02] Eventually, his cousin gave him a job working in Los Angeles for celebrities.
• [06:33] In 2004, he became a partner in GSO business management. He got a break when Linkin Park was looking for someone in business management. Their success opened up the floodgates.
• [08:37] He began getting more and more A-list clients.
• [09:04] In 2010, he became addicted to gambling.
• [10:01] This eventually led to embezzlement from his celebrity clients. He placed the bet with this bookie everyday for 6 years.
• [13:48] He ended up embezzling about 7 million dollars.
• [14:12] When he stopped gambling he had suicidal ideation.
• [17:05] He always intended to pay the money back.
• [19:37] Jonathan shares a time when the bank wanted to call Alanis. 
• [21:03] There was a point when his partners started to notice something wasn't right.
• [22:04] In 2015 he was fired by Alanis, but he continued to give his attention to his A-list clients.
• [24:42] He didn't want to expose anyone to the fact that he was committing crime. He never told a soul.
• [25:07] The dark secret was eating him inside, and he also had to deal with his unresolved trauma.
• [27:12] How Jonathan had to come clean with his wife, because he was scheduled for a lie detector test.
• [28:48] After failing the test, he was facing 23 years in prison. He negotiated a four to six year plea agreement.
• [31:14] He ended up being released early because of COVID.
• [32:11] He struggled to get a job and ended up going back to school, and now he's a marriage and family therapist with an emphasis on addiction and trauma.
• [34:00] In prison he had the opportunity to reflect on his bad decisions and read a lot of books.
• [36:33] He's proud to be sober and a nerd. His trauma is resolved, and he gets to help people in treatment not make the same mistakes that he made.
• [41:34] Celebrities today need to understand not to trust their business manager so quickly and to make sure that they're proactive in their financial affairs and that they're asking for source documents.
• [42:11] Audit your business manager with some level of frequency.
• [48:43] Don't go out and spend all your money. Treat your first dollars as your last dollars.
• [50:56] Jonathan has a book coming out in about 12 months.

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