Schwartz felony embezzling: Can I HIRE this guy? to Manage Business RESTITUTION plans?

[emilynghiem]

Hollywood Business Manager: I Stole From Alanis Morissette and Other Clients and I'm Sorry (Guest Column)

^ Now THIS guy.^ I want to HIRE, create a job for him, in community service to raise and pay back the $4.8-7 million he stole. And petition the judge and courts if he would accept such a business proposal. If he needs to pay back triple damages, I'd help him RAISE ALL THAT MONEY and use that to invest in restitution for TWO landmark sites destroyed by corporate and govt abuses WORSE than what this man ever did.

The courts and govt are GREAT going after individuals like this guy they can get; but HORRIBLE when it comes to corporate heads or politicians in govt who abuse immunity.

When are we going to see GOVT OFFICIALS held to the same standards they hold citizens?

Where is the justice for
* Headwaters Forest destroyed in CA by corporate destruction and an estimate $1.6 BILLION cost to taxpayers that was never pursued much less paid back!
* Freedmen's Town in TX destroyed by collusion between corporate interests and govt officials who "looked the other way" so everyone could run and keep their offices.

When I read this man's statement (copied below), I find
he is more honest than all the wheelers and dealers I have watched destroy the national historic district where I live, abusing and funneling MILLIONS of public dollars to developer buddies in a mass pattern of conflicts of interest, corporate and govt abuses if not malfeasance, fraud, and downright felony.

We need someone like HIM in charge who wouldn't be afraid to face the truth of the costs of the consequences. And perhaps use his business mgmt skills to create a remediation and restitution plan to restore landmarks destroyed by abuse AT TAXPAYERS' EXPENSE IN THE BILLIONS.

We, the taxpayers are owed not only millions if not billions of dollars, but the means of restoring the historic landmarks destroyed for corporate control of prime real estate interests that politicians, lawyers, courts and govt officials all bowed to instead of following laws that were designed to preserve not one but TWO nationally registered historic landmarks -- of Allen Parkway Village (a military WWII site and Civil Rights Era landmark) and Freedmen's Town (including landmarks to the Civil Rights Era, Freed Slave, and Black Church history).

What do I do, set up a website and write an open letter,
offering to hire him and create a place and way for him to serve his time?
While paying back and setting a standard for OTHERS TO DO THE SAME!
What a concept, right?

Here's the historic landmark site that was supposed to renovated as a campus.
Since it's federally controlled, maybe it could be used to house corporate felons
who agree to community service to pay back their debts to victims and society:

http://www.houstonprogressive.org

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To My Community:

I am writing this open letter to you so that you can learn from my mistakes and never find yourself in the situation I am now in. I am a convicted felon who has fully accepted responsibility and pleaded guilty to federal charges related to my embezzling over $7 million from my clients and business partners over a six-year period and not paying tax on it.

I used to have it all — a great family, a job that I loved and high-profile clients that I represented, partners whom I respected and respected me, and a reputation in the community for hard work, excellent service, and commitment to charities that helped the less fortunate. I had never run afoul of the law before. Now I have lost it all and face going to prison for years. How did I end up throwing it all away?

The answer, in part, is that since college I was a gambling addict. I should have been more careful when I first started gambling socially because my father was a gambling addict who abandoned the family when I was young. Over the years, my gambling addiction grew, particularly as I became more successful. With that success came very high levels of stress to constantly meet my clients’ demands and constantly compete with others in the industry to be the best. I often turned to drugs to deal with the stress but mostly sought refuge in the world of sports gambling. The spiral I was in was toxic. Winning did not make me feel better but losing was intolerable. If I lost, then I had to make it back and when I lost again, the hole I had dug got deeper and deeper. I felt weak and powerless, terrified by my internal demons that I was turning into my father.

I lived a double life since no one other than my bookie knew I had this “dark” side. At first, I “borrowed” a little from clients, with the hopes that I would pay them back if I won that night’s bet. That snowballed, and as I kept losing, I kept stealing. I kept telling myself that I just needed one lucky break, and I’ll pay them back. That lucky break never came — thankfully. I say thankfully because when I was finally caught, a bright spotlight shined on my deplorable conduct. I could not hide any longer and hit rock bottom. By seeing how pathetic I had become, I finally got the courage to ask for help.

As a result of incredible friends and my sponsor, I am now 336 days sober after committing myself wholeheartedly to the Beit T’shuvah intensive outpatient program and the Gambler’s Anonymous program and meetings.

To say I am incredibly ashamed and disappointed in myself is an understatement. I have hurt everyone I cared about, my family, clients, business partners, employees, peers and friends. I had a fiduciary responsibility to serve my clients, and I violated that trust. I let everybody down, and for that I will spend the rest of my life asking for forgiveness and making amends to everyone I have hurt. The road to recovery goes one day at a time, but I now have a much better and clearer understanding of what really matters and have devoted my life to getting there.

Part of my amends include making sure that others who might be in my former situation, in super stressful jobs where the demands feel overwhelming, do not turn to drugs or gambling to deal with the stress or violate their responsibilities to others hoping no one will notice, but seek help from those around them or treatment before it is too late. Please use me as an example of what can go disastrously wrong when you start down the wrong path. Please, please follow a different path.

Most sincerely,
Jonathan Schwartz