Leonard Cohen Wins $9-Million Judgment Against Former Manager

03/02/06 8:30pm

Leonard Cohen has been granted a default judgment of $9 million U.S. against his former manager, who allegedly drained more than $5 million in savings from the recent Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee.

The ruling was made in Los Angeles County Superior Court in response to a civil suit that Cohen had filed last August against Kelley Lynch, his business manager from early 1988 through October 2004. The Montreal-born singer, songwriter and poet alleged fraud, negligence and breaches of contract and fiduciary duty on the part of Lynch.

Another defendant named in the suit, investment advisor and tax attorney Richard Westin, reached an out-of-court settlement with Cohen last month. The terms of that deal are subject to a confidentiality agreement.

Cohen claims that his retirement fund had been reduced to $150,000 by late 2004. He alleges that he was misled into believing that the proceeds from the $12-million sale of his publishing holdings had been put into a company called Traditional Holdings that was 99 per cent-controlled by his children Adam, 34, and Lorca, 32. Traditional was actually 99.5-per cent-owned by Lynch, who was Cohen's lover for a brief time in 1990.

Lynch didn't respond to Cohen's suit last year, and a subpoena of her financial records was ignored. She claimed last August that her phone had been disconnected because she didn't have enough money to pay her bill. So Cohen collecting his money is by no means a slam-dunk.

Cohen, 71, is also involved in a legal battle with investment banker and former financial advisor Neal Greenberg. He sued Cohen and Lynch last year, claiming that Lynch had stolen money from Cohen and that, in turn, Cohen and attorney Robert Kory were trying to make him the "fall guy" for the artist's financial troubles. Greenberg alleges that Cohen and Kory were involved in a conspiracy to extort money from him if he didn't go along with their plan.

Another Cohen lawyer, Scott Edelman, plans to proceed with an action against Greenberg in either a district or arbitration court.

Cohen has been forced to return to the public eye of late to earn money to pay his legal bills and rebuild his savings. Book Of Mercy, his first new collection of poetry in 22 years, will be published in May. He's also producing and co-writing an album for Anjani Thomas, working on a new record of his own, talking about doing a concert tour, and appearing in the forthcoming documentary, Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man.