Matthew Cox | Inside True Crime Podcast
Celebrity Business Manager Steals Millions from Clients (The Real Story)
Wed, 12 Mar 2025
Stop leaving yourself vulnerable to data breaches. Go to my sponsor https://aura.com/matt to get a 14-day free trial and see if any of your data has been exposedJonathan Schwartz he was once an icon financial advisor in the entertainment industry to A listers like Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, LINKIN PARK, and more. Then an addiction led him to steal millions from his clients. Today we share the full story...Johnathan's Links https://www.instagram.com/therealjonathanschwartz/[email protected]://altus.rehab/residential-treatment/Do you want to be a guest? Fill out the form https://forms.gle/5H7FnhvMHKtUnq7k7Send me an email here: [email protected] you extra clips and behind the scenes content?Subscribe to my Patreon: https://patreon.com/InsideTrueCrime 📧Sign up to my newsletter to learn about Real Estate, Credit, and Growing a Youtube Channel: https://mattcoxcourses.com/news 🏦Raising & Building Credit Course: https://mattcoxcourses.com/credit 📸Growing a YouTube Channel Course: https://mattcoxcourses.com/yt🏠Make money with Real Estate Course: https://mattcoxcourses.com/reFollow me on all socials!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insidetruecrime/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@matthewcoxtruecrimeDo you want a custom painting done by me? Check out my Etsy Store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/coxpopartListen to my True Crime Podcasts anywhere: https://anchor.fm/mattcox Check out my true crime books! Shark in the Housing Pool: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0851KBYCFBent: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BV4GC7TMIt's Insanity: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08KFYXKK8Devil Exposed: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08TH1WT5GDevil Exposed (The Abridgment): https://www.amazon.com/dp/1070682438The Program: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0858W4G3KBailout: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bailout-matthew-cox/1142275402Dude, Where's My Hand-Grenade?: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BXNFHBDF/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1678623676&sr=1-1Checkout my disturbingly twisted satiric novel!Stranger Danger: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSWQP3WXIf you would like to support me directly, I accept donations here:Paypal: https://www.paypal.me/MattCox69Cashapp: $coxcon69
Chapter 1: What led Jonathan Schwartz to embezzle money?
I embezzled $4.6 million. I represented Beyonce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Mariah Carey, Matthew McConaughey. We want you to come and take a lie detector test. Now I have to tell my wife the truth. And to my surprise, she said, well, why don't we Google how to beat the lie detector test?
You know, one day I had this brilliant genius idea that, you know what, why don't I become a bookie with one of my fraternity brothers because bookies don't lose. And now I, cause you know, I grew up poor. So I didn't like, I was around a lot of affluent college mates. Right. And me, they're going out, they're going to the bars, they're going to get food and, I really didn't have access to money.
So I'm thinking in my head, okay, let's become a bookie. So we become a bookie, this fraternity brother and I, for about two weeks. Why only two weeks? Because we're probably the only bookies in the entire globe that lost. So we lost $10,000, $5,000 each. Now for a college student, or at least I'll speak for myself, $5,000 was like the equivalent of a million dollars to me.
So now I leave SUNY Albany and I... put the onus on my fraternity brother to take care of the $10,000 in entirety. So that was the start of some really poor choices and bad behaviors. And, you know, the funny thing is I tried to make amends to that fraternity brother who now lives in Israel. And he basically sent me, I sent him a Facebook message when I was off probation.
And he sends me this text saying, go F yourself. I hope you die of cancer. And you know what? He's right. Turns out he had to take a job to pay my portion. And again, what kind of schmuck like myself would do that to someone who I cared about? And I did. And I felt terrible, but obviously I blocked them off of Facebook. And let's just say we're no longer friends on Facebook.
And, you know, when I had the money, I should have paid him back. I just never did. So now I moved to San Francisco because at this time my mother was living in San Francisco with her husband. I called her up. I said, hey, mom, I'm transferring. Can I come live with you? And is there a college I can go to? And finished the last call a year and a half, two years of my studies. She said, yeah.
So I went and moved in with her and her husband. Took a part-time job in the financial district of San Francisco for a CPA firm and went to San Francisco State to get my degree.
Is that what you thought you were, like the whole, when you entered college, did you think finance? Yeah.
Yeah, unfortunately the only subject I was good at in school was accounting, you know, finance.
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Chapter 2: How did Jonathan's college experiences shape his future?
But I want to stay in entertainment business management. Oh, okay.
And that's, so that's what his, you didn't mention, that's what he was focusing on. That's his focus. Yeah.
He was really well respected as the great music mind. I mean, he had the great, one of the great, some of the greatest clients you could have. He was a brilliant mind. He had a brilliant mind.
So why did, how do you, how do you stay in? in entertainment if he's being acquired. You go get another job, right? Thank you to Aura for sponsoring this video. Did you know that Dell had a breach that exposed over 3.9 million customer records, including sensitive personal information? Then Ticketmaster had 560 million records compromised. But the scariest one is national public data.
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Chapter 3: What is the role of a business manager in the entertainment industry?
We want to provide it to the asset manager so they know how to invest the client's monies, again, in order to achieve the respective client's goals. Okay.
So when you move from your...
Cousin? Uncle. Cousin's firm, yes.
When you move from your cousin's firm to the new firm, do you bring your clients with you? Because that would be, your cousin would be pissed. Well, he's selling anyway, what does he care? But anyway, is that a whole thing or you have to start over and get new clients or do they give you new clients?
Great question. So he blessed me with giving me like three, four B-level clients. So I was able to take a small, very small book of business over to this existing firm. Right.
Are these B-level clients? To me, B-level clients... if you're lucky B level clients become a level clients, but some B level clients just never that, you know, they're always secondary, you know, role. They never, they're never going to be the lead in a movie or, or do any of these people ever move up? I'm just curious.
Yeah, they do.
They do.
So I took some of those clients and, you know, like for example, Ruthless Records, which was EZE's estate. I mean, it's not necessarily a B level client, but it's also not, you know, An A-level, a Taylor Swift of today, if you will, right? And I actually loved very much and cared very much for the widow of EZ, whose name is Tamika Woods-Wright. So she agreed to come with me.
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Chapter 4: How did addiction impact Jonathan's career?
I could really... At 500,000, I couldn't buy the house in Los Angeles, in the suburbs that let's say my family wanted, but we were able to buy a small house and we had a lot of expenses. And again... Yes, in reality, it's a lot of money. But then as I started to make more, we were able to provide more for our kids and put one of them in private school and things like that.
And, and also we spent money on vacations, you know, I was pretty irresponsible when it came to spending money, certainly at the commencement of my addiction. But at that point, I was quasi responsible.
2010.
Okay.
Why? It's a great question. So the why is because I was coaching my kids to use sports teams. They're baseball and other soccer and basketball. And I met a gentleman who was my... I won't call him a gentleman. I really like to call him a name, but I won't say...
use foul language on with you right now um he was an assistant coach and he said he was a course he was into real estate he dabbled in those are the worst i tell you i don't know anyone else i already know he's a scumbag say no more there you go commercial real estate and he was he avid quasi professional poker player so he knows i like sports so he says to me why don't you want to bet i'm
I'm like, you know, I bet from time to time. Sure. I'll place a bet. So I placed my first bet. Maybe it's $50. Right.
I've never so far in every betting story you've told you've lost money. So you, I mean, at some point you seem like a smart guy. You'd say maybe, maybe I should stay away from it.
Huh? Right.
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Chapter 5: What were the consequences of Jonathan's actions?
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Because I know I have to come up overnight with some BS excuse to call up the bank and say, John Doe needs $27,500 sent to my office by Tuesday morning. And they say, well, what do you need it for? Well, now I have to give them every week an excuse because they don't call the clients. I have power of attorney. That's how I was able to steal the money, right?
So they call me and I say, oh, well, he wants to pay cash for some construction he's having done in his house. He's got a cheaper price by the contractor. Like the amount of excuses and lies I gave every Monday to the bank to seek money or to the asset manager was disgusting. And that's what almost brought me to offing myself. But this person has a person that worked for him. So the bookie,
was very close with one of my partner's son-in-law. And it was really like, in fact, this son-in-law saw me after I was sentenced, but before I went away and surrendered into prison, he saw me at a local grocery store. His name is... I think his name is Robin. He's quite the ass. So he sees me in a grocery store. He gambles too, by the way. Right. But his father-in-law doesn't really know that.
So I walk into whatever was Gelson's and he sees me walking down an aisle. He makes a scene in the grocery store. This guy's going to jail. He stole money. He's a felon. And he's screaming this. I'm so embarrassed. All these things are true, what he's calling me, you know, but... I immediately had to walk out. That was really kind of a weird moment.
Are you serious? Like that's insane.
It was so embarrassing. And he's the guy that worked for the bookie. He worked with the bookie on the real estate side, but not on the bookie component. But he also bet himself. So he was also a degenerate who just didn't get caught because he was getting money from my partner because my partner was helping support his son-in-law and his daughter.
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Chapter 6: How did Jonathan initially manage clients' funds?
Right.
I want to work at McDonald's. I want to be five years from now. I want to look back when somebody's bitching and moaning about how hard it is. I'm a motherfucker. I was working at a McDonald's five years ago with no money. And so I used to joke about this. And so when I was about to get out, he, one day I go to do something. I forget.
I get on the computer and I happen to look down and there's $400 on my account. And I went, what the fuck? And keep in mind, I don't have enough time to go to, there's no commissary for me between now and the time I leave. So I look at it and I go to him and I know it's his, the same name he has people send me money. Go to him and his name is Tommy. I go, Tommy.
I said, bro, did you send me 400 bucks? And he goes, yeah, yeah, I did. And I went, why? I said, I'm not going to commissary. And he goes, no, no, this is for when you hit the halfway house. He goes, you're going to need some stuff. And he goes, you know, he said, you're going to need some clothes.
And he goes, and I know, he said, I know you think it's funny that you're going to get out without thinking. He said, but you're going to need something. So it's 400 bucks and you've been cool with me and I'm cool with you. And he said, so we're good. And I was like, I said, bro, I'm just not like I can pay you back. Or they said, I don't give a fuck about that. He didn't give a shit.
He had plenty of money. He was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But, So listen, that meant so much to me because I had nothing. I went and spent $300 at Walmart. And listen, people were like, you don't have any money. Oh, I don't have any. Listen, for 300 bucks, you can get an entire wardrobe at Walmart. Absolutely. It's not a great wardrobe. I got rubber black boots.
I don't know if you know this, but rubber black boots in Florida, it's not a good situation. I mean, it's complete sweat, just horrible. But I wore rubber black boots almost the whole time. Well, no, not even almost the entire time I was locked up. or in the halfway house, I wore those rubber black boots to work and back. And I got blue jeans, 29 bucks.
I think I got a couple pair, two or three pair of those. I remember I got black t-shirts that fit amazing because I was in amazing shape when I got out. Mediums, black t-shirt. And it was like 15 bucks for, or was it $20 for 10 of them? They were basically like $2 a t-shirt. They fit amazing though. Now, granted, I realized right away that you could only wash them about five times.
They started coming undone and it came in. But it's fine. I worked at the gym. So it's fine. But they work great. But yeah. So I was able to buy a bunch of stuff with that money. And I had a hundred bucks left over. Yeah. So I was lucky. People don't even realize that. Like most people don't have a Tommy. Right. And so what do you do then?
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Chapter 7: What warning signs should clients look for?
And I'm like, great idea. Your wife's a gangster. I don't know why she was so cooperative with me. But instead of saying, F you, we're divorced right away, effectively, she did that maybe a month or two later. But in that moment, that was what I thought she would say. But she was, she saw, she knows, she knew that I did really, she knew I was a good guy.
I just, obviously I did horrible things, right? Deep down in my soul. So she supported me. We Googled it. Now I get in the car, next morning I wake up. I'm like, well, I'm going to go down and meet one of the former FBI agents, best polygrapher and a polygrapher. And I'm going to beat this system, right? This is my mentality. So, so much so that in the car ride, remember about an hour and a half,
I'm doing blow after blow after blow. It was May 8th, 2016, because my sober date is May 9th, 2016, and I placed my last bet with my bookie. This is what I'm doing on the way to get this lie detector test done, okay? I walk in there arrogant. I walk in there like this big shot to this professional. Never taken a lie detector test in my life before, but now I know I can beat it, right?
I'm on blow, no problem.
You've read a couple articles, right? Yeah, of course.
A couple articles. Who goes to a lie detector test where your body is shaking from the stimulant?
I was going to say, that machine, I would say, isn't even going to register that you're telling the truth when you say your name at this point. It should be so... so fucked up just because your body's in such a chaotic state.
Right. So the degenerate I am, I don't know what's going to happen, but I didn't realize this until after the test was over. He's trying to build a rapport with me. So I'm thinking the guy likes me. I'm building this rapport with this guy, right? Like he's asking me all these questions. He's going to work with me. Yeah, he's going to work with me. He's going to be kind to me.
So next thing I know, now he's like, this is about maybe after two hours, he's ready to connect me to the machine. So I sit down, he asked me, you know, did I steal money from Alanis Morissette? No. All these questions. No. So I leave there thinking maybe there's a chance that I passed. So as that day progressed, I couldn't reach my attorney. He hadn't heard anything yet from the polygrapher.
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Chapter 8: What lessons can be learned from Jonathan's story?
It's true. I used to walk almost like 15, 17 miles around the track a day just to get away from where I had to sleep. But you're right. I mean, it's all about gratitude today for me, right? Like I'm grateful, like I talked about earlier, for that $5.75 Starbucks that maybe I could treat myself to a latte today. There are times where my refrigerator may not have a lot of food in it.
I'm grateful that I have a box of cereal I can eat. You know, I'm really living in gratitude today. And I certainly didn't live that way in my act of addiction and during my criminal behavior. Today, I'm humbled by everything. I'm humbled that I get to be here with you. I would have come to a podcast before I even knew there were podcasts.
Let's say in my act of addiction, I'd be like, wait a second, I'm coming here. You're lucky I'm coming here with that attitude, right? Today, I'm grateful that Matthew Cox and your team said I can be welcomed here because it's an honor to meet you in person as a host of a podcast that I respect. And it's because I don't judge anybody today.
And I want to say this if I can, because earlier you said something about like our friends, right? And a little bit about friends. When this became public, I was seeing an Eastern Western medicine doctor and he saw this and he called me and he said, I want you to show up at this house tomorrow and you need to wear a suit. So I put a black suit on. I have no idea what I'm doing.
I go into this house. I know nobody. The doctor's not even there yet. I walk in the backyard where I'm directed and there's a rabbi giving a eulogy at a funeral and people are crying. I have no idea. So now shortly afterward, the doctor arrives. I'm sitting, of course, in the back row because I don't know anybody. And I said, doc, what is this? Doctor says, this is a staged funeral.
It's a staged funeral. I started hearing about the popularity about it in 2016 or whatever. It's not a real funeral. But it's not a real funeral. So the reality shows around this time. So I said, okay, so these people think this man is dead? He says, yes, Jonathan. He's actually upstairs. Nobody knows. This is his house watching his own funeral because he fears death. I said, wow, okay.
I feel bad for the people that really think he's dead, but okay for the moment. So then shortly thereafter, we leave. He says to me, the doctor says to me, Jonathan, what's your takeaway from this? I said, give me a moment to process that. I process and I say, okay, I think I understand why you asked me to come here. I said, in the height of my career, if I were to die, I'm making this number up.
Let's say 600 plus people would be at my funeral. 98.5% of those people would have been there at a professional obligation. Not because they care about Jonathan Schwartz, right? Those that I did business with, et cetera, et cetera.
today if i pass away this is what i said back in 2016 17 i said maybe and today literally i would say the same thing maybe i'd have 50 people at my funeral but at least those 50 people care deeply for me that's more powerful to me why do i bring that story up if you will i bring it up because today i have very few friends and very very few people in my life by design
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