Posted on 03/05/2006 12:12:32 PM PST by billorites
Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen may never see the $9.5 million US a court ordered his former business manager to pay after she failed to respond to allegations of stealing from his retirement savings, Cohen's lawyer said.
A Superior Court judge granted Cohen, known for reflective songs such as Suzanne, a default judgment Monday. Cohen, 71, claimed in a lawsuit that Kelley Lynch siphoned $5 million US from his personal accounts and investments. He was left with a nest egg of about $150,000, the lawsuit claims.
"She's hard to get in touch with. I don't know where she lives now, and I don't have a phone number for her," said Cohen's lawyer, Scott Edelman. "We don't know what she did with the money. ... But she knows what's going on because she leaves me phone messages at all hours."
Lynch could not be located for comment.
Edelman said Lynch, who worked for Cohen for 17 years until he fired her, also refused to return photographs, records and memorabilia, even after a court order.
"We went into her home four months ago with a sheriff and a moving truck to get his stuff," the lawyer said.
Another defendant in the suit, tax professor and lawyer Richard Westin, reached an out-of-court settlement with Cohen on Feb. 13, details of which were not revealed.
Westin's lawyer did not immediately return calls for comment Thursday.
"Leonard is sad that this whole thing took place, but glad that this leg of the litigation is completed," Edelman said. "He would prefer to spend his time on his creative endeavors."
I saw him perform in San Diego when he was dating her...she was there on the side of the stage. Strange coupling, for sure.
She was early 30s then and he was around 60 I think....she was hot...he seems like a nice but sorta tortured and talented guy
150K is not much for retirement.
I lived with a lady in Columbia Housing (she taught Barnard) back in the 80s and she had all his work
she listened to that and Hoyt Axton, Phil Ochs a lot.....it was different than what I knew for sure
What a shame...you work your whole life..and you work hard..and then some asshole who you trust betrays you. At least he will probably make money from residuals and whatever...and he can always go back on the road..he'd do well....but at the age of 71, he shouldn't have to.
I seen the future brother, it is murder.
ditto that. bump
Willie Nelson does it well.
Willie Nelson does it well.
When you're posting/replying to a reply from almost a month ago, it would help if you put a clue to the recipient what you're referring to, as I did in my reply to you. Thanks in advance.
FMCDH(BITS)
I’m glad I looked back - never knew Cohen had written this one...
Song of Bernadette
There was a child named Bernadette,
I heard the story long ago.
She saw the Queen of Heaven once,
And kept the vision in her soul.
No one believed what she had seen,
No one believed what she heard.
That there were sorrows to be healed,
And mercy, mercy in this world.
So many hearts I find, broke like yours and mine,
Torn by what we’ve done and can’t undo.
I just want to hold you, come on let me hold you,
Like Bernadette would do.
We’ve been around, we fall, we fly;
We mostly fall, we mostly run.
And every now and then we try,
To mend the damage that we’ve done.
Tonight, tonight I just can’t rest,
I’ve got this joy inside my breast.
To think that I did not forget that child,
That song of Bernadette.
So many hearts I find, hearts like yours and mine,
Torn by what we’ve done and can’t undo.
I just want to hold you, won’t let me hold you,
Like Bernadette would do.
I just want to hold you, come on let me hold you,
Like Bernadette would do.
I saw Cohen this past November in Vegas..what a show.
I seldom experience jealousy - but you got me. I hope he does a few more tours before he hangs up the hat...
It was great going to Montreal, taking a boat ride on the St. Lawrence, and seeing that "Our Lady of the Harbor" is a real place.
Congrats to you Lenny! I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel...and you didn't repeat the fate of the other lodgers, Dylan Thomas and Sid Vicious...
He ought to get that amount from kd Lang for her butchering of “Hallelujah” at the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies.
“Everybody knows that the dice are loaded,
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed.
Everybody knows that the war is over,
Everybody knows that the good guys lost...”
I would assume that he is currently making a fortune off of the royalties to “Hallelujah.” That song has become our national funeral dirge.
Love “Chelsea Hotel,” which I believe was written about Janis Joplin. Love “Famous Blue Raincoat.” Love “Everybody Knows,” which was covered by Concrete Blonde in “Pump up the Volume.”
This is an early writing about 'the girl he never found'. His last mention of her was in The Book of Longing in the poem A Life Of Errands
He's an interesting man.
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