Through interviewing him over the years, I've developed a bit of a relationship with Leonard Cohen. We stay in touch by email, and if I'm in Los Angeles or Montreal, the two cities he calls home, I might look him up. A few weeks ago, I joined him for dinner at his house in L.A. with his 30-year-old daughter, Lorca, and a friend. Leonard served matzo ball soup and beef brisket, a dinner prepared by a friend's mother and dropped off at his door. It was a Friday night, Shabbat, and before the meal they sang in Hebrew.(Though a Buddhist, Leonard maintains some Jewish traditions.)That night he told me what he'd hinted at months earlier in an email -- that he'd been stripped of most of his assets, and was mired in a legal battle with his money managers, who would accuse him of extortion. He said it would get nasty and personal, and that his name would be dragged through the mud.
I was Leonard Cohen’s personal manager. He simply lies. I suppose he sits Sabbath now but I can assure you that I thought he pretended to be a Buddhist. His Holiness Kusum Lingpa most certainly did not agree. His Holiness Thinley Norbu thought he was utterly aggressive.
PERSONAL MANAGER
Leonard Cohen Cross:
Public Defender: You -- actually, you hired her to be your personal manager in 1988, correct?
Cohen: No.
PD: : Well, when did you hire her?
Cohen: I hired her to be my business manager.
PD: In what year?
Cohen: I think it was 1988 or 1989. RT 271
PD: So any accountants would have been hired by Ms. Lynch?
Cohen: Correct.
Cohen: Correct.
PD: And would that not have been any of your -- would you not have had any input in that?
Cohen: Very little, if not none. RT 272
PD: So you have no idea if you raised your agreement with her where she would receive 10% of profits [NOTE: It’s gross royalty income], and you raised that up to 15%? RT 273
Cohen: I don’t recall the moment that that took place, although it did take place over the years. RT 274
Kelley Lynch Direct:
Lynch: Leonard Cohen hired a business manager by the name of Rich Feldstein … Leonard Cohen felt that his tour manager was stealing from him. And so he asked me to find a business manager … I brought Rich Feldstein in, Mr. Cohen approved that. Don Was recommended him. He’s also Madonna’s business manager, so he’s well known in the industry. This is how it would happen. And then he came in and did an audit and there was no such truth to that allegation. RT 450