A convicted cocaine smuggler and former Rio Tinto employee found dead in his prison cell had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder after previously being assaulted in jail.
Bennet Schwartz, 34, was awaiting trial over further drug smuggling charges when he was found dead at Silverwater’s Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre on Saturday.
A California-based lawyer previously contacted Daily Mail Australia stating Schwartz’s time in custody over an earlier conviction for importing a commercial quantity of cocaine had ruined his life.
‘Mr Schwartz’s involvement with the alleged drug ring was highly sensationalized and results in Mr Schwartz being labelled a drug “kingpin” whilst incarcerated and subsequently assaulted,’ attorney Lars F Kushner wrote.
Convicted cocaine smuggler and former Rio Tinto employee Bennet Schwartz, who was found dead in his prison cell last Saturday, had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder after previously being assaulted in jail
Accused drug kingpin Mostafa Baluch and alleged Bennet Schwartz associate allegedly went on the run from police for 16 days after cutting off his ankle monitor. He is pictured at Bankstown Airport after his extradition from Queensland to NSW in November
‘Mr Schwartz has been clinically diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and reports ongoing mental health issues.
‘He has had no previous or subsequent involvement with the criminal justice system and has been unable to secure gainful employment.’
In 2016, Australian Federal Police and Border Force officers intercepted 25kg of cocaine worth $4.5million imported from the United States and linked to Schwartz.
The Sydney Grammar graduate had used an encrypted Blackberry device to communicate about the drug importation with associates including a criminal known as Dr Octopus.
NSW District Court Judge Peter Berman sentenced Schwartz to a maximum six years with a non-parole period of three and a half years in April 2018.
‘Many offenders coming for sentence to this court have terrible backgrounds,’ Judge Berman said.
Corrective Services confirmed Schwartz was found unresponsive at the Metropolitan Remand and Reception Centre at Silverwater (pictured) about 11.45am on Saturday. He was pronounced dead by NSW Ambulance officers at approximately 12.18pm
Pictured: Texts allegedly exchanged between accused cocaine kingpin Mostafa Baluch and Bennet Schwartz on encrypted messaging app ANOM in April last year as revealed in court documents
‘They are raised by parents who model illegal behaviour. They are abused, they do not have guidance and they associate with criminals.
‘The offender has no excuse whatsoever for his behaviour.
‘He was raised by his widowed mother in an appropriate way. She made sacrifices to give him a good education, he studied, he had a job and the support of his family.’
Schwartz, a onetime capital projects analyst with Rito Tinto, had been the victim of extortion attempts while behind bars and was released in March 2020.
He was arrested at his home at Rose Bay in Sydney’s eastern suburbs last October over another drug importation scheme, this time allegedly involving accused cocaine kingpin Mostafa Baluch.
Baluch is now in Australia’s most secure prison, Goulburn’s Supermax, after allegedly cutting off an ankle monitor while he was on bail and going on the run.
Schwartz was accused of texting Baluch on the police-run encrypted messaging app ANOM while allegedly trying to smuggle 27kg of cocaine into Australia. The drugs were allegedly concealed in modelling clay (pictured)
Schwartz was accused of texting Baluch on the police-run encrypted messaging app ANOM while allegedly trying to smuggle 27kg of cocaine into Australia.
The drugs were allegedly concealed in modelling clay.
AFP Superintendent Matthew Parsons said when Schwartz was arrested that police had information he had been in contact with Baluch before he skipped bail on October 25.
‘He’s a successful qualified young gentleman with links to the mining industry and hospitality industry but obviously he’s chosen this road, be it for the fame and fortune of the gangster lifestyle,’ Superintendent Parsons told reporters.
Corrective Services New South Wales confirmed Schwartz’s death in a statement on Sunday.
‘The inmate was found unresponsive in a cell at around 11.45am and was pronounced deceased by NSW Ambulance officers at approximately 12.18pm,’ the statement read.
In 2016, Australian Federal Police and Border Force officers intercepted 25kg of cocaine worth $4.5million imported from the United States and linked to Schwartz. The drug haul is pictured
Mr Kushner’s letter of May 2020 requested that a story about Schwartz’s 2016 drug running be removed from the internet because it was causing him ongoing harm.
Stories about Schwartz’s arrest and conviction ran in most major Australian media outlets at the time.
‘Unfortunately, the notoriety that has arisen from this arrest ……continues to cause ongoing personal and professional harm to our client,’ the letter stated.
‘He has been advised that he has been turned down from multiple employment offers and further educational opportunities as a result of this association.
‘He also advises that he has suffered personal embarrassment.’
Court documents from 2018 show Schwartz had been targeted in prison during his first time in custody, with other inmates wrongly accusing him of being a police informant.
He was the victim of several attacks, including one involving a sandwich press.
A former cellmate told the District Court court that prisoners chanted ‘dog, dog, dog’ at Schwartz after news of his crimes aired on television.
Schwartz told his cellmate that he had been stabbed, with other criminals saying they had seen wounds on his body, according to court documents.
Investigations into the circumstances surrounding his death are underway and Corrective Services confirmed there would be a coronial inquest.
Pictured: Bennet Schwartz being arrested outside his Rose Bay home in October last year. He was accused of smuggling drugs into the country before his death on Saturday
Baluch was caught hiding in the back of a luxury car in a truck at the Queensland-NSW border on November 10, 16 days after he went on the run.
Police allege Baluch was involved in an organised crime syndicate that conspired to import and distribute three tonnes of cocaine, potentially worth an estimated $900 million.
With help from US authorities, 1.77 tonnes of cocaine was seized from vessels off the coast of Colombia in October 2020 and Ecuador in April 2021.
Five men have been charged so far over their alleged involvement in the syndicate.
Baluch was caught hiding in the back of a luxury car in a truck at the Queensland-NSW border in November as he allegedly attempted to evade capture after two weeks on the run
