TAKE AN ICONIC ARTIST, mix in [a fabricated tale of] missing millions, hints of tantric sex, a [retaliatory] lawsuit replete with other salacious details, and a ruptured relationship with a long-time, trusted associate, and you've got the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster. Except in the case of Leonard Cohen, it's a true tale [of pure fiction, criminal tax fraud, retaliation, perjury, revenge fantasies, etc.] , with the bizarre twist of a Tibetan Buddhist suing a Zen Buddhist, Cohen. For the 70-year-old poet, singer and songwriter, it's a nasty, rapidly escalating legal battle that on the one hand accuses him of conspiracy and extortion, and on the other has him accusing both his highly trusted personal manager and long-time financial adviser - the Tibetan Buddhist - of gross mismanagement of his financial affairs. The case exposes not only private details of Cohen's finances, but also a dramatic tale of betrayal.
The conflict, which Cohen and others have tried to keep out of public view [and no doubt under the radar of the IRS], has left him virtually broke [bald faced lie] - he's had to take out a mortgage on his house to pay legal costs [Leonard Cohen received a $1 million advance on "Dear Heather" in the fall of 2004 and put a halt to a multi-million dollar deal he demanded so this allegation is laughable]- and facing a multi-million-dollar tax bill [Cohen's self-proclaimed motive]. But the artist, who is soon to release a new album with his collaborator - and current girlfriend - Anjani Thomas, is today remarkably calm [it certainly doesn't appear that way - given the lengths he has gone to destroy my life, target my family, retaliate against me, steal from me, silence me, etc.] about the potentially embarrassing conflict. Still, when he discovered last fall that his retirement funds [Cohen discovered that I intended to report his tax fraud to the IRS; received an obscene letter from his tax lawyer re. the IRS, received a tax notice from the IRS re. his handiwork, changed accountants, and ultimately hired lawyers] , which he had thought amounted to more than $5 million (all figures U.S.) - Cohen has been issued an $8 million 1099 for the assets he wasted which include his loans that his advisers told me were dangerous to his so-called retirement structure ... all investment monies he invested with Neal Greenberg were lost and the SEC brought charges against his investment adviser ... , had been reduced to $150,000, he wasn't so sanguine. "I was devastated," Cohen says. "You know, God gave me a strong inner core, so I wasn't shattered. But I was deeply concerned."
So far, only one formal court filing involving Cohen has been made. Cohen, however, did not name Neal Greenberg in his retaliatory lawsuit against me which is one hell of an oversight leaving me to believe his and Greenberg's lawsuits were planned. In June, Boulder, Colo.-based Neal Greenberg, Cohen's investment adviser of almost a decade, launched a hyperbole-laden claim in Colorado against Cohen, who lives in both Los Angeles and Montreal. The suit accuses Kelley Lynch, who was Cohen's manager and is also named in the suit, of siphoning money from the songwriter. Actually, it doesn't "name" me. The extent of my involvement had to do with the interpleaded funds in the amount of $150,000. I called the judge, advised him that Cohen committed serious criminal tax fraud, and told him to send Cohen - the thief - the money. It also accuses Cohen and his lawyer Robert Kory of conspiracy, extortion and defamation. It alleges the two, in an attempt to recover at least some of Cohen's lost money, threatened to besmirch Greenberg's reputation and concocted a plan to force Greenberg to give Cohen millions of dollars. It would be humanly impossible to besmirch Neal Greenberg's reputation unless you think being viewed as a criminal is a reputation that needs to be protected.
The suit paints an almost preposterous picture of Cohen as an artist who led a lavish celebrity lifestyle and then turned bitter and vindictive when he discovered the money had run out. Cohen discovered no such thing. I suppose that's why he begged me to hand over the corporate books and records; meet with him and his tax lawyer to unravel their handiwork; and offered me 50% community property, etc. For example, the suit quotes Lynch describing how Cohen demanded she discuss business matters while he soaked in a bubble bath, and how later he was somehow involved in calling a SWAT team to her home, where she was handcuffed and forcibly taken to a psychiatric ward while in her bathing suit.
None of the allegations have been proven in court [Cohen's never will be since nearly every word in his retaliatory suit is fraud, perjury, and a provable lie]. Cohen is expected to file a countersuit this week - but never did supporting my theory that his and Greenberg's lawsuits were coordinated. More lawsuits are likely to join the fray. And Lynch, who has sent turgid, raw and wrathful emails hither and yon, is threatening to sue just about everyone. I absolutely intend to sue Cohen for theft, wrongful conversion of my federal tax returns, etc. It's not a "threat."
The conflict was triggered last fall when Cohen was tipped off by an insider [no such "insider" existed - that's Cohen's fictional account] that a lot of money was missing from his accounts. All that remained of his retirement savings was the $150,000, funds that today he can't get [his high-priced lying whores were able to get the money for him] at as a result of the tangled legal web he finds himself in. Greenberg's suit portrays the soulful songwriter as an artist who paid little attention to his financial affairs [the behind-the-scenes micro-manager was obsessed with every detail of his financial affairs] and so was easily duped by a conniving personal manager. Cohen says he tried quietly, and confidentially, to find out from his various managers where the money had gone [Actually, Cohen offered me anything I wanted and pleaded with me to privately meet with him and his tax lawyer ... only when I refused and my so-called lawyers sent his lawyer a letter requesting information did Cohen come up with the fictional account of my "over-payments." In his bogus lawsuit, he attempts to steal back commissions I earned and my share of intellectual property that has nothing to do with my commissions as his personal manager]. Cohen calls the case "a tragedy," suggesting he was exploited by trusted advisers [how does he explain his perjury/obstruction of justice in Phil Spector's matter - is he a victim there also?] . He uses words like "greed, concealment, and reckless disregard,"- he should know ... these words describe Cohen and his actions to a "T" - and says firmly he did nothing wrong. What would one expect a bald-faced liar and thief to say? Does someone expect a confession from another Hollywood fraud? "I can assure you, within reason, I took every precaution except to question the fidelity of my closest associates." Cohen over-estimated my "fidelity." It doesn't extend to assisting him in covering up his criminal conduct.
Until Cohen fired her last fall, Kelley Lynch - Cohen never fired me; it was never discussed; but since he continues to lie about this, wrongful termination should be addressed - he also owes me millions in commissions for work I did ... a truly "enlightened" thief and fraud - had been his personal manager for almost 17 years. Back in 1988, she'd been working as an assistant to his then-manager, who died that year. Because she was knowledgeable about Cohen's business affairs and recording contracts, he had her take over. As of April 1988 I was Cohen's personal manager. Over the years, the two developed a personal and professional relationship. Fifteen years ago, they had a brief affair. "It was a casual sexual arrangement. Cohen and I never had a brief aware, were not lovers, and did NOT enjoy anything mutually. He is delusional if he believes this. He never spent the night because it never happened. It was mutually enjoyed and terminated," he says. "I never spent the night." The end of the affair didn't affect their bond. There was no affair so it would be impossible to end one. "We were very, very close friends," Cohen says today. "I liked her immensely. Our families were close - she was helpful when I was raising my daughter; I employed her father." He even named her in his living will, giving her the power to decide, in certain circumstances, if he would live or die. How dramatic. Anjani Thomas wanted that role and I absolutely wanted her to step into that role - which happened in the fall of 2004. He handed her vast powers of attorney. He trusted her implicitly. And he believed the relationship was mutual. "She wrote dozens of emails to me, thanking me for my help. It's all about the ego-maniac, Leonard Cohen. We used to correspond regularly, relentlessly." That's correct. I gave the IRS Commissioner's Staff and Phil Spector the passwords to my email accounts so they could read through all emails (including those with Cohen's advisers) to make an independent determination about what actually occurred. He says that in 2004, while he was recording his most recent album, Dear Heather, with a small team at his home-recording studio, Lynch would come by almost daily. "People were very tight. Kelley was taking care of business, I was producing the album. It was all taking place in this little duplex and the garage that was converted into a studio. Kelley would come over, and I would generally prepare lunch for everyone." I rarely stayed for lunch - particularly after hearing him and Thomas bad-mouthing Sharon Robinson and Leanne Ungar for staying for lunch although they were invited. I did not want to be anywhere near this maniac.
The cosy arrangement was shattered one day last October when a young man, the boyfriend of a casual employee of Lynch, spoke to Cohen's daughter, Lorca, who owns an art deco furniture store and who lives downstairs from her father in the L.A. duplex he owns. "Your father really ought to look into his accounts, because he might be surprised at what he finds," he said. Lorca told him that her father trusted everyone involved and that besides, "he's about to retire, anyway." As Cohen senior tells the story, the young man replied, "He won't be able to retire." If Lorca Cohen actually said this she is a bald-faced liar who will cover for her father. In any event, this never happened. I didn't have any casual employees although Betsy Superfon advised me that a young woman by the name of Julie Isenberg (who worked for me for approximately two weeks and could hardly write an order for my card company) was jealous of me and may have involved herself in Cohen's tax fraud. She then assaulted Superfon's maid, stole Superfon's jewelry and dog, and may now be in Vegas stripping and doing drugs. She clearly could not read the corporate books records; did not prepare a forensic accounting; couldn't read financial statements if here life depended on it; etc. Utterly absurd fictional story that sounds like pure Cohen.
Alarmed, Lorca called her father, who was in Montreal. Within a couple of days, he returned to Los Angeles and immediately went to his bank. Actually, he asked me to lunch and proceeded to question me about Betsy Superfon, her friends, sex life, financial situation, etc. I began to wonder if he intended to blackmail her. Nothing else was mentioned. There he discovered, as he puts it, "improprieties." Lynch had linked her American Express bill directly to his personal chequing account Bald-faced lie , he says, and just days before his visit to the bank, he'd paid a $75,000 Amex bill on her behalf. He never learned what purchases the card had been used for, but says the credit card company reimbursed him. Demands an investigation. Cohen immediately removed Lynch's signing powers on the accounts. The next day, Cohen told Lynch she no longer had access to the bank accounts and he fired her. That afternoon, Cohen says the bank notified him that Lynch went to a different branch and attempted to withdraw $40,000 from one of his accounts. Leonard Cohen gave me $40,000 when we discussed the upcoming multi-million dollar deal that we anticipated would close in the not too distant future. I did not go to the bank that day. He then closed his bank account the next day and my employer was unable to cash the check on my behalf. He's a bald-faced liar and thief. He then called a lawyer and brought in a forensic accounting firm, Moss-Adams, which, in an investigation of all of Cohen's holdings, discovered "massive improprieties." Actually, Cohen's forensic accountant (who has NOT done the forensic accounting so I have asked the IRS to undertake this task) flew to San Francisco to meet my accountant and informed him that he was missing all corporate back up documentation relating to Blue Mist Touring, Traditional Holdings, LC Investments, LLC, etc. He then proceeded to perjure himself in his declaration in Cohen's retaliatory lawsuit against me. In all, the accountants discovered about $8.4 million had over time disappeared from his holdings, Cohen says. His retirement funds had been virtually depleted. The accountant discovered no such thing. Numbers were moved around these ledgers in an absurd manner. At one point, Anjani Thomas' house was literally in my column. Millions suddenly disappeared from my so-called column. The assignments - related to all streams of royalty income - dating back to 1967 were willfully ignored and not included in the so-called forensic accounting which is nothing other than a garbage, useless ledger that should be slam dunked into the trash can.
Neal Greenberg, a banker with a thriving investment firm - Neal Greenberg, a despicable man who I did not actually know, has now lost all of his client's money - including accounts belonging to many elderly people - and has been charged with fraud, etc., by the SEC - , had been brought in by Lynch to manage Cohen's money in 1996 - Leonard Cohen met with Greenberg when he came to Los Angeles; hired him; signed the paperwork; and had me verify (in his presence) that another Greenberg client (Peter Goldfarb) was satisfied with Greenberg's investment work - I thought Greenberg churned, invested in risky investments, and wondered if his commissions were illegal - , two years after Cohen went up Mount Baldy to study to be a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk - Cohen can be seen on You Tube (Armelle Brusq's documentary from 1996) working on Mt. Baldy; he was in constant contact with me; and, advised Robert Hillburn, LA Times, in an interview that he was frequently in Los Angeles visiting his daughter and my office - . But now, he was worried - he was aware that I intended to report his tax fraud to the IRS and understood that I had been used horrrendously. Over two decades, Greenberg had built a successful company, the Agile Group, and managed more than half-a-billion dollars of other people's money. He enjoyed, as he says in his suit, a "spotless professional reputation." And suddenly, here was Leonard Cohen, not just a prized client but one with a high profile, suggesting that Greenberg was party to the disappearance of Cohen's retirement savings. Cohen's retirement did not disappear. He is a bald-faced liar who refused to repay his millions of dollars in personal loans from this entity which created a dangerous structure that could be overturned by the IRS. I was told, by my lawyers, that the penalties and interest on one entity - as of the fall of 2004 - came to approximately $10 million and there were similar penalties on two other entities.
Over the years, he says, he warned Cohen that his funds were being rapidly depleted, but it seemed the artist paid no heed. And now, Cohen and his lawyer, Kory, claims the Greenberg suit, were threatening "that Cohen would go out on tour to promote his new album and give interviews to reporters in which he would insinuate that he was touring because he had been bankrupted by improprieties by Greenberg and other financial advisers." Greenberg must have envisioned his business and his career in absolute tatters. He sued. I suppose after planning their companion suits, Cohen and his rotten thug lawyers (Kory and Rice) decided to tour to promote his new album and tell reporters that he was touring because of me. This clearly replaced Cohen's de riguer lies to the news media about Phil Spector or the "hand that rocked the cradle" articles about him and Rebecca DeMornay.
Greenberg's lawsuit lays out the business background to the dispute. Cohen's success as a singer and songwriter generated millions in royalties, the suit says, and in the 1990s, Lynch, as Cohen's trusted personal manager, began to investigate auctioning his intellectual properties, including copyrights to his song catalogue and continuing royalties for his songs. Cohen demanded these sales - see Greg McBowman who met with us and advised him NOT to sell the intellectual property. Cohen insisted. I thought it was a rotten idea also. Lynch, along with a tax consultant named Richard Westin, arranged two deals for Cohen's properties. Absurd. Where is the mention of all of Cohen's other advisers: Peter Shukat, Jeffrey Hafer, Jonas Herbsman, Peter Lopez (who Cohen refused to pay the $90,000 he owed him, naturally), Arthur Indursky, Don Friedman, Stuart Fried, Greg McBowman, Ed Dean, and others. This information has been concealed from Cohen's pure fictional account of my role in his criminal tax fraud adventures. The transactions were eventually completed, one in 1997, the other in 2001, with Sony Music. From the first sale, about $5 million was transferred to trusts that Greenberg had been enlisted to manage and that would protect Cohen from an upfront tax hit. Ed Dean, Cohen's lawyer for these trusts, was concerned about personal service contracts being assigned; the IRS promptly audited a charitable gift of stock to Mt. Baldy; etc. Greenberg says he invested the proceeds wisely, making lots of money for the trusts. But Greenberg also claims that Cohen's "consistent and prolific spending" to support "his extravagant 'celebrity' lifestyle" eroded the gains he had made on his client's behalf. I would like a complete audit of Greenberg's investments, commissions, and gains. Also his churning, etc.
The second sale of Cohen's intellectual property, in 2001, was for $8 million. With Westin, Lynch - See all other advisers who have been conveniently concealed in this fictional account and who were NOT working for me - put that money into a newly formed company named Traditional Holdings LLC that also was intended to shield Cohen's earnings from a major tax hit. Lynch was named as owner of 99.5 per cent of the company, leaving Cohen holding just 0.5 per cent See the Indemnity Agreement Cohen had his lawyer prepare on my behalf - I didn't understand how I was being used on this entity; requested this; Cohen signed it; and it pays my legal fees. This document has also been concealed although my so-called lawyers continually advised Cohen's lawyer to review it. Greenberg alleges that Cohen, well aware of the structure and its dangers, signed off on it. Westin had explained to Cohen, the suit says, that "the plan would only work if Cohen and Lynch maintained (as they had in the past) a long-term relationship of personal and professional trust." Traditional Holdings could also issue loans to its owners, Lynch and Cohen. Robert Kory wrote my lawyers to ask if Cohen's loans would be forgiven. The answer remains NO.
As soon as the new company was in place, "Greenberg was immediately alarmed by Cohen's desire and tendency to treat this company [Traditional Holdings] like his personal piggy bank," Cohen wasn't. He told me he planned to tour; understood the type of income he would make - including with respect to merchandising and publishing; and told me he did NOT trust Neal Greenberg and refused to invest the $1 million advance for "Dear Heather" with Greenberg. I have no idea why ... the lawsuit alleges. It goes on to claim Cohen took a $1-million advance on the second sale of assets to Sony, Lynch took a commission of $1.1 million - I didn't "take" a commission - see Cohen's fax to Greenberg paying HIS transaction fees from this entity which is completely outrageous and probably illegal since they totalled millions (30% from what Kory said) and I don't know that this was viewed as a commission since I never received a 1099 and Cohen's lawyer was supposed to "recharacterize" the nature (whatever that means) of these distributions ... , and fees for lawyers and accountants ate up another $714,000. Cohen's accountants and lawyers. Does he expect everyone to do volunteer work for him because he is one of the greediest men on earth? And then, over the next few years, Lynch regularly borrowed money Cohen regularly borrowed money - I didn't borrow money for Cohen ... HE borrowed money ...from the Traditional Holdings account in amounts of tens of thousands of dollars, sometimes for herself, sometimes acting for Cohen. The lawsuit claims that while Greenberg sent a monthly email statement to Cohen, it was always Lynch who told Greenberg to release the loans. No doubt a set up and planned this way. Greenberg and Cohen communicated on a monthly basis, by email, and could have easily confirmed everything with one another. Who knows what they did privately.
The Greenberg suit claims Lynch, always acting as Cohen's agent - I wasn't an agent on Traditional Holdings but did have a Power of Attorney as the thief/fraud Cohen travelled extensively - , told Greenberg what to do regarding the funds. For instance, Lynch instructed Greenberg to send Cohen the monthly email status reports, but Greenberg says she directed him to leave out day-to-day activities and the status of Traditional Holdings loans. Bald faced lie. Greenberg told me loans are assets (accountants have confirmed that this is a fact) and have to be included in the overall value of the accounts. Greenberg decided how to handle the courtesy draft emails that I definitely demanded because I didn't trust Cohen, Greenberg, or Westin and thought there was tax fraud on these entities. Because the loans were to be repaid, Greenberg included them in the statements as assets, which meant that it appeared as though nothing had been taken out. It didn't "appear" as though nothing had been taken out - it included the loans as assets with respect to the account's values.
Greenberg, who declined to comment for this article, claims in his suit he repeatedly stressed to Cohen that his spending was seriously draining his investments. In one warning letter, Greenberg told Cohen that Traditional Holdings had only $2.1 million left. Considering how quickly the money was leaving the account, Greenberg wrote, "I think you should consider your situation quite desperate." It's not clear if Cohen ever received this letter. Sure. Greenberg emailed Cohen monthly and wouldn't email him directly if he thought the situation was so dire. More bald faced lies. On this, Cohen and Greenberg agree: they say many of Greenberg's attempted communications with Cohen were intercepted by Lynch. Interesting that Greenberg and Cohen agree - nothing was "intercepted" by me. Everything was placed on Cohen's desk; in the files; and Cohen had a key to my office and no cabinets were locked. He frequently went over to my office to review his papers; mail; use my copier; etc. In fact, his daughter with my step-daughter ransacked my office one night because Lorca Cohen also had a key.
On other points, Cohen disagrees. He was vitally interested in his financial affairs, he says. "It wasn't that I wasn't involved - on the contrary, I took great pains to pay these professionals well and to solicit their advice and to follow it," he insists. "And, I was receiving a report every month from Neal Greenberg indicating that my retirement savings were safe." Cohen insists he was not made aware that Lynch had been named the majority owner of Traditional Holdings - Cohen insisted that TH be structured in this manner which is why I asked for an Indemnity Agreement; his lawyer then extinguished the annuity obligation from the tax return; extinguished my promissory note from the tax return; and engaged in other tax prep creativity that I believe can be viewed as participating in tax fraud; instead, he says that in an early description of the company's structure, he had been told that his two children, Lorca and Adam, - See Cohen and my emails to Westin. Cohen did NOT want Lorca and Adam Cohen as beneficiaries; no trust was ever discussed; and Kory told my lawyers that the plan was to role Traditional Holdings back into LC Investments, LLC (that Cohen declared in legal documents he owned 100% 0f) - avoiding all taxes on the income, obviously would be its principal owners. He says he was shocked to learn that Lynch had almost complete ownership. Leonard Cohen is a bald faced liar. See Richard Westin's 2006 letter, that I requested, explaining these entities to me and Cohen. Cohen received a copy of this letter. See other evidence as well. The mistake Cohen admits to is that "I paid close attention to everything except the possibility that my closest associate would embrace any irregularities in the discharge of her duties." One of Leonard Cohen's carefully crafted, fraudulent statements that dazzles awe inspired journalists - like Brian Johnson - and possibly dazzled Phil Spector's secret grand jury ...
Cohen also says he learned only recently that the two sales of his intellectual property to Sony were unnecessary. Then why did he demand them? He understands now that those properties earned roughly $400,000 a year, before taxes. He understood, when CAK sued him in 2000, that these properties made a great deal more than that - see Cohen's declaration in the failed CAK bond deal lawsuit. That was plenty for him to support what he calls his modest lifestyle. A man who gives gifts of $500,000 to Mt. Baldy; buys houses for his son and Anjani thomas; buys a building on Melrose in Los Angeles for his daughter; and is the last of the big time spenders lives a "modest" lifestyle then you fell hook, line, and sinker for yet another Cohen fictional account of hiself ... Cohen accuses Lynch of creating the deals in order to boost her own income. How creative! He paid her 15 per cent of his income, which generally earned her $90,000 a year, he says. With the sales of his intellectual property bringing in revenue in the millions, it boosted her income to seven figures. One time in 17 years. Pro rated it comes to very little for a person who worked as his personal manager, literary agent, publicist, archivist, publishing manager, personal slave, etc.
Greenberg's lawsuit becomes more disturbing as it describes what happened after Cohen realized he'd lost millions of dollars. Greenberg says Cohen pressured him to go after his firm's insurance company for the money to repay him. The IRS should contact Greenberg's insurance firm to see if any type of insurance fraud was committed or reported to them ... "Be a man," Cohen told Greenberg, the suit says. By threatening [Cohen has now threatened me, Ann Diamond, Steven Machat, and others - he has also falsely accused my elderly parents, sister and her husband, and others - these are the tactics the not-so-enlightened thief and con artist employs when his wrong-doing is exposed and then there's his unconscionable lies in the Phil Spector matter] his reputation, it appeared to Greenberg that Cohen, on Kory's advice, had decided to target Greenberg's and his insurance company's deep pockets. Then, alleges the lawsuit, Cohen and Kory began to pressure Lynch to join them in "their extortion scheme." From November 2004 to April 2005, the lawsuit says, Kory repeatedly let Lynch know, sometimes directly, sometimes through friends or other intermediaries, that Cohen was ready to "forgive" Lynch's obligations to him, and that she in fact could receive a hefty cut of "whatever funds could be extorted from Greenberg and other advisers with her co-operation." Bald faced lie. Cohen/Kory NEVER told me I would receive a "hefty cut of whatever funds could be extorted from Greenberg and other advisers with" my cooperation. Perhaps Boies Schiller did give me good advice when they advised me to record my meetings with Robert Kory because they felt Cohen/Kory were attempting to engage me in criminal conduct.
Greenberg's suit alleges that when Lynch refused to participate, Kory and Cohen vowed to "crush her." I suppose this is why someone just wrote me that Cohen's "extravaganza" with respect to me proves he is Mafioso. Others are wondering why he isn't in prison. It goes on to say their "tactics to terrorize, silence, or disparage Lynch" included threatening her that she would go to jail, and "paying two paroled convicts to make statements that they had observed Lynch's older son brandishing a gun and threatening to kill someone." My older son never brandished a gun or threatened to kill anyone but Cohen had no problem lying about my older son also. He is the scum of the earth.
Lynch's response to all of this has been bitter - and I have no plans to send thank you notes for these thug-like criminal tactics - , scattered and in some cases difficult to comprehend. In a rambling exchange of emails with Maclean's last week, she denied any wrongdoing. She also declined to discuss the Agile Group's lawsuit, describing it as "bogus" and "slanderous," while promising to file her own complaints against Cohen and other principal players in the case. She added her phone had been disconnected because she lacked money to pay the bills.
In the meantime, she's been showering Cohen and others with invective-laden emails that alternately voice misery and hurl accusations at friends and former colleagues. Many of these lament losing custody of her 12-year-old son, Ray, to his father, music producer Steve Lindsay. Lindsey, Cohen, Kory, and possibly others, clearly coordinated the custody matter the day SWAT rolled by, held me hostage, used my son as a human shield, threatened to shoot me and my dog, and hauled me to Killer King - questioning me about Phil Spector en route ... A few devolve into the outrightly bizarre. One missive, sent July 17 and obtained by Maclean's, invites Greenberg in highly explicit terms to Lynch's home for an evening of tantric sex. "First I want to study the inner channels with you," it says. "Why not - let's see who is better at tantric sex - you or me." This was in response to Greenberg calling me to discuss private annuities and advising me , absurdly, that he takes classes in "tantic sex."
So troubling have the messages become that several people who know Lynch fear she's become unhinged. "I'm afraid she's suicidal," says Lindsay, her ex-husband, adding that in his judgment she's been acting erratically for the better part of a year. Steven Clark Lindsey has a pattern of destroying his children and has now taken two children from two mothers in one lifetime. He is a bald-faced liar, owes me hundreds of thousands of dollars, and attempted to have my older son go in and sign over/transfer my former house to Cohen/Kory. There was apparently money in it for Lindsey, naturally. Cohen too sent Lynch a message last fall spelling out his concern in verse: You can't tell the difference between a threat / and a helping hand, he wrote. You can't tell the difference between a threat / and a solemn warning / from one of the few people / who still cares about you and your family. Cohen underestimates me - I understand a threat. He doesn't understand how to stop lying, stealing, or conning others. This fraud cares about my family? What a shameless liar.
Lynch's apparent troubles have had punishing legal consequences. Lindsay has obtained a temporary restraining order that prevents her from visiting her son. Tara Cooper, a former employee of a greeting card company - who appears to have been in touch with Lindsey and who advised many people that she took out a fraudulent TRO to stay out of the custody matter, etc. - Lynch started while still in Cohen's employ, has taken out a similar order after alleging that Lynch sent threatening emails and harassed her by phone. And two of her creditors - upscale department stores Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman - have filed collections claims against her in Los Angeles Superior Court.
This is the mess that Leonard Cohen - a man many believe floats a few inches above the ground If anyone believes that this lying con artist fraud and thief floats above the ground they need to seek immediate psychiatric care - finds himself in. These days, he's Zen-like. In the course of a long interview by phone from his home in Los Angeles, the man sometimes called the poet laureate of pessimism sounded almost bemused. "What can I do?" he asks. "I had to go to work. I have no money left. I'm not saying it's bad; I have enough of an understanding of the way the world works to understand that these things happen."
His first choice of action when he learned his money was gone, he says, was to not do anything. Really? He offered me anything I wanted ... Aware of how painful litigation could be, he says he wanted no part of it. "I said, 'I can walk away with nothing.' I said, 'Let me start again. Let me start fresh at 70. I can cobble together a little nest egg again.' " More carefully crafted fraudulent lies and fiction ... But he ran into a glaring, immediate problem: had he done nothing, he would have legally been responsible for the funds that had gone missing. And on that money, he'd owe millions in taxes, a sum he no longer had. Let's not forget Cohen's motive - the millions he owes in taxes and then there's the $30 million or so in penalties, etc.
His next step, "his second-best choice," was to negotiate with his advisers about the missing money. He approached Lynch, asking her to open her books. I didn't have any books other than the corporate books and records which were transmitted to his lawyers by my lawyers - this was documented in a letter at the time "She resolutely and unconditionally refused to open her books to any scrutiny whatsoever and instead began a bizarre email campaign to discredit me in some kind of way, which has gone all over the place," Cohen says, adding that he's launching a lawsuit this week with great reluctance. "I don't want anybody hurt. What a pathetic fraud and liar. It's not my nature to pursue and to contend with people that way." People who actually know this liar view him as a monster capable of anything. Cohen says all he wants is to find out where the money went. "I'm not accusing her of theft," he says of Lynch. Still, his countersuit will likely describe how money was removed from his accounts. What counter-suit? His retaliatory suit in response to my reporting his tax fraud to the IRS? The only thing described in that suit was Cohen's lies, fraud, perjury, concealment, etc.
Cohen appears to have been blindsided by Greenberg's lawsuit. He insists that he and Kory were in the midst of mediation with Greenberg when the financial adviser's lawsuit was suddenly and unexpectedly filed. He says the mediation had been confidential, at Greenberg's urging, as he feared for his reputation. In an email to Greenberg, Cohen urges him to make good. "Dear Neal, I believed in you. I depended on you," Cohen wrote in November 2004. "When things went wrong, does it make any sense that you would make your warnings available to the only person in the cosmos who had an interest in deceiving me? A single, simple email informing me that my accounts were being emptied would have been enough. I answered EVERY SINGLE EMAIL you ever sent me. Fortunately, I have them all. And, Cohen answered EVERY SINGLE EMAIL to Greenberg. How fascinating.
"Face up to it, Neal," the email continues, "and square your shoulders: You were the trusted guardian of my assets, and you let them slip away … Cohen certainly is clear at this point - Greenberg's the "guardian" of the "assets." I'm also clear about this. Restore what you lost, and sleep well." In his sign-off, Cohen delivered as much a piece of advice as his own philosophy: "Put this behind you and it will dissolve." What could this possibly mean? There's an irony here, that a man who has struggled much of his life to distance himself from the material world now, at 70, finds himself in an intense battle with it. Still, he's not defeated. "This has propelled us into incessant work," he says of himself and Thomas. He exudes optimism about their new CD. "It's one of the best albums I've heard." It's not closing time quite yet. It is most certainly not closing time for this lying con artist fraud and thief. I tend to doubt he's heard the last from Phil Spector either.
Maclean's August 22, 2005
http://www.scribd.com/doc/29299853/Leonard-Cohen-Complaint-Against-Kelley-Lynch
