Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Kelley Lynch's Email to Dennis Riordan and Bruce Cutler Re. Phil Spector, Leonard Cohen, Perjured Testimony, IRS & Federal Tax Matters, Etc.

From: Kelley Lynch <kelley.lynch.2013@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 28, 2016 at 9:47 AM
Subject: 
To: Dennis <Dennis@riordan-horgan.com>, bruce <bruce@brucecutler.com>, "*IRS.Commisioner" <*IRS.Commisioner@irs.gov>, Washington Field <washington.field@ic.fbi.gov>, "Division, Criminal" <Criminal.Division@usdoj.gov>, MollyHale <MollyHale@ucia.gov>, fsb <fsb@fsb.ru>, rbyucaipa <rbyucaipa@yahoo.com>, khuvane <khuvane@caa.com>, blourd <blourd@caa.com>, Robert MacMillan <robert.macmillan@gmail.com>, a <anderson.cooper@cnn.com>, wennermedia <wennermedia@gmail.com>, Mick Brown <mick.brown@telegraph.co.uk>, "glenn.greenwald" <glenn.greenwald@firstlook.org>, Harriet Ryan <harriet.ryan@latimes.com>, "hailey.branson" <hailey.branson@latimes.com>, Stan Garnett <stan.garnett@gmail.com>, Mike Feuer <mike.feuer@lacity.org>, "mayor.garcetti" <mayor.garcetti@lacity.org>, Opla-pd-los-occ <OPLA-PD-LOS-OCC@ice.dhs.gov>, "Kelly.Sopko" <Kelly.Sopko@tigta.treas.gov>, Whistleblower <whistleblower@judiciary-rep.senate.gov>, Attacheottawa <AttacheOttawa@ci.irs.gov>, tips@radaronline.com, alan hootnick <ahootnick@yahoo.com>


Mr. Riordan and Mr. Cutler,

May I have your opinions on the City Attorney's use of the April 18, 2011 email to Dennis Riordan and IRS Commissioner's Staff during my trial.  See one piece of evidence attached.  Leonard Cohen was not copied on this email but it permitted Streeter to elicit testimony about Phil Spector.  It permitted Cohen to lie that I said he perjured himself in Spector's Grand Jury.  Mick Brown reviewed the trial transcript and I have said that ad nauseum.  Furthermore, Cohen told me for 20 years that Spector never held a gun on him.  What justified the prosecutor calling Cohen as a witness about Phil Spector?  Because the Cohen and Spector cases are linked and that's why I'm being targeted.  How was an email to Dennis Riordan authenticated when it is hearsay.  Who was copied?  Alan Jackson, Truc Do, and William Frayeh as well as IRS.  Streeter concealed the evidence related to the IRS Commissioner's Staff and the fact that I confirmed for Dennis Riordan that Cohen refused to provide me with the tax information.  Cohen was not copied on this email but testified that he was.  He later confirmed, under cross, that he didn't really review all the email addresses.  Who would believe this man?  He confessed to perjuring himself during the trial on another issue.  

I think any reasonable person would understand why I wrote Bruce Cutler once the prosecutor confirmed that Cooley's investigator was in the courtroom.  Do they want to target me now over my requests for IRS required tax and corporate information, private litigation matters, and the fact that proxy operative Stephen Gianelli has targeted me, my sons, family members, friends, Paulette Brandt, and others for over seven straight years?  Obviously.  They victimize victims.  The entire trial record in my case in one long lie.  Cohen just made up whatever he wanted and there was no evidence to substantiate his testimony.  That would include his preposterous statement that he was concerned I would attend his concert.  I have no idea who would believe any of this bullshit.  Maybe a Lifetime movie writer.

You don't think the fraud DV related orders terminated by operation of law, do you?  At least the City and County can collect fraudulent VAWA funds.  I suppose that's the upside.

Kelley

Streeter:  Do you hear the mention of a gentleman by the name of Dennis Riordan in that last sentence, Mr. Cohen?  Cohen:  No, I didn’t.  RT 234

Streeter:  Did you hear a mention of a Dennis Riordan in there, Mr. Cohen?  Cohen:  Yes, I did … Streeter:  Did you receive that voice mail message approximately February 15, 2011?  Cohen:  Yes, I did.  RT 234  Streeter:  Do you recall if Ms. Lynch has mentioned Dennis Riordan in any of her emails?  Cohen:  Many times, but I just don’t remember at this moment what the connection is.  RT 235

Streeter:  And do you remember when the trial from Mr. Spector happened?  Was it before or after Ms. Lynch left your employ?  Cohen:  I think it was during that period.  I’m not sure.  Streeter:  But it was around the same time.  Cohen:  Yes.  Streeter:  And prior to her leaving your employ, you had no contact with anybody else on that case; is that right?  Cohen:  Oh, no, none whatsoever.  Streeter:  Now, you mentioned that she would also mention, talk about Mr. Spector in the emails.  I’m going to show – ask you a couple of questions about those emails.  Do you recall getting an email from Ms. Lynch on approximately April 18, 2011 at about 5.44 AM?  Cohen:  I know that occasionally there were some very early calls.  Streeter:  This is an email message.  Cohen:  I would have to be refreshed.  RT 160

Streeter:  I have People’s 13.  Now, thinking back to the emails that you received from Ms. Lynch about Mr. Spector, would she use his whole name or would she use part of his name, or did it vary?  Cohen:  It varied, but I think it was usually Phil Spector … Occasionally when she spoke of him as someone she knew well, I think she would call him Phillip.  Streeter:  I’m going to show you an email.  It’s – April 18, 2011.  I misspoke.  It’s at 8.11 AM.  Just look at the first page on the date.  See if that refreshes your recollection.  Let me know when you’ve done.  Cohen:  Yes Ma’am.  Streeter:  Did – does that refresh your recollection as to whether or not you received an email on April 18, 2011 at approximately 8.11 AM in the morning.  Cohen:  Yes, this is the email I received.  Streeter:  See if that email helps you recall whether or not there was any mention of either a Phil, a Phillip, or Phil Spector in the email.  Cohen:  In this particular email, Mr. Spector is called Phillip.  Streeter:  Okay.  And on what page is the email?  What page is the mention of Mr. Spector?  Cohen:  I haven’t studied the whole email, but it begins on the first page.  Streeter:  How many pages is that particular email, Mr. Cohen?  Cohen:  Seven pages … Streeter:  Is your name mentioned in any way with Phillip, Mr. Cohen?  Cohen:  Yes.  It says, Cohen told me Phillip never held a gun on him, and that would support what he told LAPD.  RT 160-161 

COHEN DIDN'T REALIZE, AFTER REVIEWING THE EMAIL AND CONFIRMING THAT HE WAS A RECIPIENT, THAT HE WAS NOT A RECIPIENT.

Now, one of thee emails that she mentioned was sent on April 18, 2011 at around 8.11 AM … Do you remember testifying about that email? Cohen:  Yes, I believe I did.  Kelly:  Okay.  And when you testified about that email, you said that you remember receiving that email?  RT 265  Cohen:  I think I did.  Kelly:  Can you point out where exactly on the list of recipients that your email address shows up?  Cohen:  Perhaps I missed this one.  Kelly:  Okay.  But you did testify, though, that you remember receiving that email, correct?  Do you remember testifying to that?  Cohen:  I believe I did.  Kelly:  Okay.  Were you wrong when you -- did you misspeak when you said that?  Cohen:  I haven’t checked every address.  Kelly:  Okay.  You can take a moment -- Cohen:  It’s very small.  Kelly:  Take all the time that you need.  Cohen:  If you say it’s not here, I understand what your point will be … PD:  And so you’ve had a chance to look over that email, the recipients?  Cohen:  Yes.  PD:  And your email is not on that, correct?  Cohen:  That’s correct.  RT 266

Monday, December 5, 2016

Kelley Lynch's Email to Leonard Cohen's Lawyers Re. Outstanding Tax & Corporate Issues

From: Kelley Lynch <kelley.lynch.2013@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Dec 5, 2016 at 11:21 AM
Subject: Estate of Leonard Norman Cohen
To: Robert Kory <rkory@koryrice.com>, Michelle Rice <mrice@koryrice.com>, "*irs. commissioner" <*IRS.Commissioner@irs.gov>, Washington Field <washington.field@ic.fbi.gov>, ASKDOJ <ASKDOJ@usdoj.gov>, ": Division, Criminal" <Criminal.Division@usdoj.gov>, "Doug.Davis" <Doug.Davis@ftb.ca.gov>, Dennis <Dennis@riordan-horgan.com>, MollyHale <MollyHale@ucia.gov>, fsb <fsb@fsb.ru>, rbyucaipa <rbyucaipa@yahoo.com>, khuvane <khuvane@caa.com>, blourd <blourd@caa.com>, Robert MacMillan <robert.macmillan@gmail.com>, a <anderson.cooper@cnn.com>, wennermedia <wennermedia@gmail.com>, Mick Brown <mick.brown@telegraph.co.uk>, "glenn.greenwald" <glenn.greenwald@firstlook.org>, Harriet Ryan <harriet.ryan@latimes.com>, "hailey.branson" <hailey.branson@latimes.com>, "stan.garnett" <stan.garnett@gmail.com>, Mike Feuer <mike.feuer@lacity.org>, "mayor.garcetti" <mayor.garcetti@lacity.org>, Opla-pd-los-occ <OPLA-PD-LOS-OCC@ice.dhs.gov>, "Kelly.Sopko" <Kelly.Sopko@tigta.treas.gov>, Whistleblower <whistleblower@judiciary-rep.senate.gov>, Attacheottawa <AttacheOttawa@ci.irs.gov>, tips@radaronline.com, alan hootnick <ahootnick@yahoo.com>, bruce <bruce@brucecutler.com>


Robert Kory & Michelle Rice,

I am writing to follow up on my August 24, 2016 letter to Leonard Cohen re. outstanding tax and corporate matters.  As these issues were unresolved at the time of Cohen's death, I would appreciate your providing me with the name of the individual who will serve as Cohen's estate representative.  I will note that I have spoken with LAPD's TMU (and other units) about this tax request and would like to refer you to the U.S. Constitution and Supremacy Clause.  LAPD has no jurisdiction whatsoever over federal tax matters although their report re. my alleged emails confirmed that they were generally requests for tax information.  

The information I have requested was due me well in advance of entry of the fraud default judgment.  I am requesting information for the years 2004 and 2005.  Leonard Cohen personally testified that he and I parted ways on October 21, 2004.  He also testified that I never stole from him - just his peace of mind - but nevertheless appears to have used LA Superior Court Case No. BC338322 as a tax deduction.  Cohen also failed to repay his nearly $8 million in loans/advances from TH.  Cohen personally signed the attached Annuity Agreement.  

Apart from the IRS required tax and corporate information I am requesting (which includes form 1099, forms K-1, corporate accountings, profit and loss statements, loan documents, IP asset valuations, tax returns, and so forth), I am demanding access to the corporate books and records at this time.  That would include, but is not limited to, all royalty statements, evidence of income and expenses, asset valuations, tax returns, and a schedule of sums Leonard Cohen, LCI, and any other entity/party that collected income, related to income collected that was generated by IP owned by BMT.

On another note, I continue to be slandered.  Leonard Cohen is the individual who embezzled from corporations, unlawfully transferred my property and the property of suspended corporations to himself via a fraud default judgment, and has stolen millions of dollars from me.  That would include with respect to commissions that most certainly were not addressed on any fabricated expense ledger.  I am advising you that the ongoing slander, including re. the fraudulent domestic violence order, should immediately cease and desist.

I look for\ward to your response.

Kelley Lynch

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Kelley Lynch's Letter to Phil Spector cc: Bruce Cutler, Dennis Riordan, Doron Weinberg, Donald Horgan & Charles Sevilla

From: Kelley Lynch <kelley.lynch.2013@gmail.com>
Date: Tues, Nov 29, 2016 at 8:32 PM
Subject: Letter to Phil Spector
To: Bruce Cutler, Dennis Riordan, Charles Sevilla
Cc: "*irs. commissioner" <*IRS.Commissioner@irs.gov>, Washington Field <washington.field@ic.fbi.gov>, ASKDOJ <ASKDOJ@usdoj.gov>, ": Division, Criminal" <Criminal.Division@usdoj.gov>, "Doug.Davis" <Doug.Davis@ftb.ca.gov>, MollyHale <MollyHale@ucia.gov>, fsb <fsb@fsb.ru>, rbyucaipa <rbyucaipa@yahoo.com>, khuvane <khuvane@caa.com>, blourd <blourd@caa.com>, Robert MacMillan <robert.macmillan@gmail.com>, a <anderson.cooper@cnn.com>, wennermedia <wennermedia@gmail.com>, Mick Brown <mick.brown@telegraph.co.uk>, "glenn.greenwald" <glenn.greenwald@firstlook.org>, Harriet Ryan <harriet.ryan@latimes.com>, "hailey.branson" <hailey.branson@latimes.com>, "stan.garnett" <stan.garnett@gmail.com>, Mike Feuer <mike.feuer@lacity.org>, "mayor.garcetti" <mayor.garcetti@lacity.org>, Opla-pd-los-occ <OPLA-PD-LOS-OCC@ice.dhs.gov>, "Kelly.Sopko" <Kelly.Sopko@tigta.treas.gov>, Whistleblower <whistleblower@judiciary-rep.senate.gov>, Attacheottawa <AttacheOttawa@ci.irs.gov>, tips@radaronline.com, alan hootnick <ahootnick@yahoo.com>


Mr. Cutler, Mr. Riordan, and Mr. Sevilla,

Attached hereto (and enclosed below), please find a copy of a letter I am mailing to Phillip today.  The content is self-explanatory.  I do hope the prison guards pass the letter onto him.  We shall see.  I've informed Phillip that I was sending copies of this letter to his attorneys (past and present).

All the best,
Kelley


Phillip Spector
CDC 
Inmate # G63408 
California Health Care Facility C3A-122 
Po Box 32200 
Stockton California  95213

Dear Phillip,

How are you?  Feel free to assume that’s a rhetorical question.  

I don’t know if you heard that Leonard Cohen passed away.  He has now been glorified by the Prime Minister of Canada (a country where Cohen cannot reside due to tax and residence problems), the news media (where you and I continue to be slandered with his fictitious and fraudulent statements) and, most astounding of all, Israeli President Reuven RivlinIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Israeli Defense Force who have saluted their “dear friend.”  I found the Israeli glorification of Cohen mind-boggling.  After all, this is a man who gave the Sieg Heil on stage in Germany and attempted to start a riot in Israel while high on LSD.  That particular incident was recorded on a film owned by Steven Machat.  Cohen actually stole the film, “Bird On A Wire” from Steven but eventually agreed to return it.  You may recall Marty’s disdain over the latter incident.  

In any event, up until the moment of his death, Leonard Cohen – with an army of professionals – continued to target and lie about me, submitted fraudulent and perjured legal documents to numerous courts, and generally behaved as the individual we personally know him to be.  I now have four appeals before the Second Appellate Division.  They relate to Cohen’s fraudulent domestic violence order, fraudulent renewal of judgment, my fraud upon the court motion (which the court “mischaracterized” as a motion to reconsider), and LA Superior Court’s sealing of corporate and other records.  I believe you are well aware of the fact that Cohen and I were never in anything that resembled a “dating” relationship.  Nevertheless, LA Superior Court simply assigned me a “dating” relationship with Cohen.  

I have never seen anything like LA Superior Court in my entire life.  They have routinely provided Leonard Cohen, based on fraudulent misrepresentations and perjured statements, orders, judgments, and even verdicts.  After recently receiving jury duty notice, I wrote the Court and asked it to investigate all the fraudulently procured judgments, orders, and verdicts that now involve me.  It seems more than obvious that some form of remedy is required.  I mentioned the fact that Leonard Cohen now has three versions of his good rock ‘n roll gun story about you before LA Superior Court.  His testimony during my so-called 2012 trial contradicted the version the prosecutors used in your case.  I have not seen the Grand Jury transcript but Mick Brown, who reviewed it, informed me that Cohen’s statements or testimony were in fact presented to your Grand Jury.  A third version was transmitted to the City Attorney’s Office by Cohen personally at the outset of my trial.  It’s difficult to imagine which version the government actually believes.  Of course, Cohen told me for approximately twenty years that you never held a gun on him and his stories about you were merely good rock ‘n roll stories.  

What I want to discuss with you today is Bay Area lawyer Stephen Gianelli.  I’ve previously written you about him.  Stephen Gianelli is most definitely an agent provocateur, infiltrator, fixer, and very twisted individual.  I think the best way to summarize his personality and conduct is to ask you to read Ann Diamond’s piece on him.  Gianelli has stalked, harassed, and slandered her for years.  He has also stalked, harassed, slandered, threatened, and intimidated me, Paulette, and many witnesses who have provided me with declarations.  He literally terrorized my sons for over seven straight years.  Ms. Diamond was Cohen’s former friend, lover, and someone involved with him immediately following the recording of “Death of a Ladies’ Man.”  Ann most definitely understands this dangerous clown.  

Ann Diamond on Stephen Gianelli


When Stephen Gianelli’s emails land in my inbox, mostly out of the blue and unsolicited, they are so overflowing with repetitive accusations, misinformation, threats, self-aggrandizing boasts, undiluted rage, and general nastiness that it's next to impossible to read to the end of one of them. My impulse is always to ignore them and tell him to stop sending them. That he seems to have unlimited energy  and endless time to go over all these details with someone he does not know in an attempt to win me over, while at the same time he constantly accuses me of having an ancient axe to grind with Cohen (i.e. I'm a hopeless case, as far as he's concerned, so he's barking furiously up the wrong tree), would under normal circumstances be a sign of mental imbalance.

He always throws in plenty of insults, false statements and fanciful deductions. His tone is that of a pitbull straining at the leash and gives me flashbacks of a courtroom where I’m being cross-examined by a vicious criminal lawyer whose whole strategy is to exhaust and terrorize the witness. Gianelli’s game is to complicate and obfuscate, mixing legal arguments with irrelevant nonsense. He seems to assume his opponent is stupid and weak and can be overwhelmed by a word-salad. I think some of this could be caused by his overuse of "copy and paste" --  he's in a hurry and not really writing "to me" or trying to make a persuasive argument. He doesn’t reread his emails to see what kind of message they actually convey: that the writer is standing on some soapbox in his mind, shouting at the world, like certain mental patients you see walking the streets who seem to be mad at the air, the cars, the sidewalk.

He's obviously not interested in holding a discussion, getting to the truth, or looking beyond the various documents he "downloaded at his own expense"  -- and as anyone with common sense knows, legal documents don't prove what really happened in 2004-5.  They convey some of the evidence, all of it coming from one side.

Gianelli's explanation as to why he's been out to get Kelley Lynch since 2008, does not make sense either. He claims she slandered him and called him names on the internet, and in revenge he has totally immersed himself in her legal case. To the point of contacting her relatives and friends, spreading false stories about her, making up quotes, “writing her in jail”, posting photos of her residence and roommates on his blog – for the past seven years. Nobody in their right mind, let alone a 'successful trial lawyer' -- who has no material interest in this case, and is not a paid shill -- behaves like this. It's not just extremely unprofessional, it would land him on 'stress leave' or in serious trouble with his colleagues and peers if he were still practicing. Hiding behind the handle Blogonaut would not conceal his identity for long, especially not on the porous internet. His badly written and often illogical, emotional rants would embarrass and bring him close to professional suicide.

But apparently since he's retired, and apparently well-off, and lives in a comfortable tax haven on Crete, he doesn't seem to care and just indulges his childish fantasies and catty remarks with his tiny circle of  cronies. It’s fairly obvious he uses alternate accounts and different IDs, e.g. “Mongochili,” to make it appear others read his blog and share his ‘obcession’ with Lynch. His sheer extremism indicates he is either a “rogue criminal lawyer” gone slightly postal, or a paid agent of Leonard Cohen and/or his legal team.  I think the latter.

I think his over-the-top campaign will have the opposite effect than the one intended: it can only make people suspicious of the case against Kelley Lynch. Otherwise, why not let justice take its course? Why subject her to endless attacks over the internet if she has already been declared guilty? This kind of harassment resembles 'gang stalking' -- except that Gianelli seems to be both the leader and most of the membership of his own gang.

Gianelli is like no other email correspondent I have ever had. A single-paragraph response from my end always leads to a flood from his. Each exchange is like a trip down a rabbithole of  irrational rage. Here and there he mixes in details and facts which might be worth discussing, if they weren’t drowned by high-volume invective. Of course this could be a tactic:  if he really was ever a successful trial lawyer, it may have been by being an insufferable bully. Or maybe most of his cases involved low-life criminals or people with little or no education. 

He claims to have accurately predicted the outcome of every Lynch hearing -- but then so could I. As we all know, cases are won on technicalities. That's one of the reasons, including the 10-year series of precedents, that I am not surprised the judge dismissed Kelley's motion. 

If Gianelli were truly a respectable lawyer, he would restrict his comments to these legal matters, and not engage in bizarre slander and speculation. He would have no need to bring up my "past" - or a wacked version of it that sounds like it came from someone on Cohen's disinfo team. He draws from a psychological profile that is easily recognizable because I have heard it from other Cohen groupies. As someone who saw a bit too much when I knew Cohen, I’m no stranger to slander, I've written out my story on a public blog etc. where anyone can read what I have to say. Much of what I have written on Cohen was initially to defend myself against gossip and rumours that were circulated (and believed) by some of his friends. My side is completely different, much more detailed and accurate. It's also quite revealing of the life of a clever pop idol in our celebrity-worshiping culture. There's no point in my arguing with people who base their opinions on ridiculous myths, like the 'restraining order' that never was. Cohen's deceptive tactics have not really evolved in the past twenty years, since he used them on me.

I really don't care if Gianelli thinks I am a star-struck 'scorned woman' who never got over her passing encounter with greatness. This Mafia-style lawyer's fixed opinions, based on trashy clichés say much more about him than they do about me or my writing, or why I became interested in what really happened to Kelley Lynch.

And of course, no one would ever suspect Leonard Cohen of encouraging Gianelli. But in my experience, Gianelli is exactly the kind of human megaphone Cohen places in charge of his 'secret business.' Like other clowns from Cohen's private entourage that I have met over the years, he may not even realize he's being used because he is ridiculous and therefore disposable. It's a fascinating system that owes much to the criminal underworld that Leonard Cohen skirts with all the skill of someone born into it. I'm sure Gianelli feels at home, and knows his place, in that world where he acts the part of a useful idiot whose job is to create a circus atmosphere and put the audience into a deeper state of trance.

I am by now firmly convinced Lynch is a patsy/victim of a weird consortium of Cohen associates, clueless supporters, and Cohen himself. If I hadn't lived next door to Leonard Cohen, and witnessed similar dynamics twenty years ago, I might believe differently. But the essence of what happened to Kelley also happened to me, two decades ago, on a lesser scale with lower stakes. It was relatively easy for me to walk away from it back then – my reputation was damaged but my life was not utterly destroyed by my association with Leonard Cohen, as Kelley's was.

I empathize with her situation, and see it as just one more story of the corruption that is sinking the whole world. I know Leonard Cohen would agree with that. He would only disagree with the idea that we all have an obligation to oppose injustice, rather than 'let it go by' and even profit from it.  

Ann D.

Let’s review who Stephen Gianelli is, how I encountered him, and what his activity consists of to date.  At some point in the spring of 2009, I stumbled upon Blogonaut’s Law Blog.  This blog was owned and run by Stephen Gianelli.  At that time, the blog seemed devoted to you and your trial.  Gianelli, a Bay Area lawyer, began focusing on your trial when Doron Weinberg announced that he was representing you.  I was surprised to find Michelle Blaine and Sprocket posting on Gianelli’s so-called law blog.  I had recently discovered Blaine’s entirely vindictive, vile, and vulgar blog.  In an attempt to defend you, and address factual issues related to Leonard Cohen, I posted a handful of comments on Blogonaut’s Law Blog.  In response, I was first attacked and subsequently “banned.”  Given the fact that this man pretends to support you, I found that of interest.  

In or around May 2009, Gianelli would publicly post that he heard from Leonard Cohen’s lawyers, Kory & Rice.  He also informed me that Pat Dixon was behind the Boulder, Colorado incident at Deneuve Construction I phoned you about.  He has also stated that he worked with the City Attorney on two occasions to have me falsely arrested.  Investigator Frayeh, who was an investigator on your case, informed me that Gianelli may have found a “sympathetic ear” about me with prosecutor Alan Jackson.  

Sometime soon after I posted on Gianelli’s blog, I received an email from Joff Belark who advised me that he was a journalist, interested in hearing my version of events, and was writing an article about the situation with Cohen.  That individual turned out to be Stephen Gianelli, the article was a hit piece, and this was the beginning of Gianelli’s endless criminal conduct with respect to me, my sons, sister, brother-in-law, elderly parents, witnesses, and just about everyone in my life.  He attempts to isolate me while threatening, intimidating, insulting, and slandering anyone who supports me or anyone who has provided me with a declaration.  Gianelli also transmits fraudulent and false statements to government agencies about me and attempts to elicit information.  Rutger would write “Belark” in response to his slanderous article.  He heard back and was then targeted for over seven straight years.  The same is true for Ray who was targeted since he was a minor.  

Gianelli’s blog, from what I can tell, was essentially dedicated to setting up reasonable doubt theories about you, permitting people (including himself as he uses monikers) to attack those theories, trashing me, and defending and promoting Leonard Cohen’s legal positions.  Gianelli attempts to infiltrate matters.  For example, he contacted IRS Chief Trial Counsel’s Office about a matter I filed with Tax Court in Washington, DC.  That matter involved a fraudulent Petition Leonard Cohen submitted to that Court.  Gianelli also contacted Bruce Cutler, using me to do so, and attempted to elicit information about you.  These are just two examples of matters Gianelli has attempted to infiltrate.  He has worked in tandem with numerous individuals such as Michelle Blaine and Susanne Walsh (Leonard Cohen’s fan).  Gianelli and Blaine literally targeted my email accounts and blogs causing them to be shut down.  My blogs were devoted to your case and innocence.  In June 2009, Blaine posted the following statements on her blog:

Something kinda interesting... Henry Lee does NOT list the Spector case in his 'Famous Cases' listing.”

“Updated! Kelley Lynch Blog Is GONE! Blogger finally listened and has pulled the flagged blog. Thanks to all who flagged and especially to Blogonaut for initiating the pull.”

For years, Gianelli also worked in tandem with Cohen’s fan, Susanne Walsh, who would frequently copy Cohen’s lawyers on her harassing communications.  Their activity took place in harassing email communications and across the worldwide web.  Gianelli has also mailed me and others letters.  As a friend of mine (who was also targeted by Gianelli after providing me with a declaration noted), he is a psychopath.  I am clearly a 24/7 job for this man.  

The activity on the internet, as is true for you personally, was and remains deranged.  Whenever I post a comment, Gianelli and his fellow cyber-terrorists descend.  For example, in October 2009, I commented on a site called Phawker.com.  They had published an article on Leonard Cohen which contained defamatory remarks about me.  I therefore responded.  

Phawker posted my comment under the link:  “Leonard Cohen Is Not A Great Man.”  My comments were as follows:

DEAR PHAWKER:
Leonard Cohen is not a great man. He appears to have committed criminal tax fraud that I reported to the IRS, probably perjured himself in Phil Spector’s grand jury, defrauded me of millions, and seems to think it’s acceptable to lie in every courtroom he shows up in. There is nothing great about a calculated fraud liar. I am praying that Phil Spector nails him on his probable perjury and I personally will be litigating my own situation against him in the not too distant future. While journalists may be awed by a man who also appears to have a pattern of stealing from his advisers (Marty Machat comes to mind) ordinary folks are not impressed with his involvement with the destruction of my life. I’m not particularly impressed by his lawyer’s Declaration in my young son’s custody matter (which I view as coercion, witness tampering, an attempt to obstruct justice, etc.) and I found it truly deranged that he went into my young son’s father’s office to “allege” that I had sex with Oliver Stone. This just confirmed, to me, that Cohen is obsessed with me and keenly interested in my sex life. I never had sex with Oliver Stone and I was not Leonard Cohen’s lover. He is merely a pathological liar who believes Phil Spector and I will take the fall for him.
Kelley Lynch [former manager of Leonard Cohen]
Almost immediately after this was posted, Susanne Walsh (Cohen’s fan whose emails and posts Gianelli may actually write) descended.  Gianelli and others descended as well.  What unfolded can be described as nothing other than a psychotic attack on me.  Rutger was threatened.  Ray, who was a minor at the time, made an appearance.  He was literally asked to communicate privately with these adult strangers.  Ray would ultimately provide me with a declaration confirming that the emails he received from Gianelli, Walsh, and others (with Cohen’s lawyers copied in at times) made him physically ill.  Rutger has taken a far stronger position.  

The individuals posting on Phawker may very well have been made up primarily of fake names assumed by Stephen Gianelli.  That would include, but is not limited to, Kelly Green.  Kelly Green was a prolific commenter on Gianelli’s blog.  This particular aspect of Gianelli’s personality has it out for me.  At some point, I would end up being questioned on Phawker about you, Dr. Lee, and Dr. Baden and wondered if Alan Jackson himself was posting as “Kelly Green.”  It’s entirely possible that “Kelly Green” is some type of composite account.  I personally believe “Kelly Green” is in fact Stephen Gianelli.  

Interestingly enough, I would discover that as of 2007, Kelly Green had posted on the Darwin Exception that covered your trial.  The blog was dedicated to demonizing you.  The trial coverage on that blog appeared to have been written by a lawyer.  On September 2, 2007, below a piece recounting Bruce Cutler’s Opening Arguments in your case, Kelly Green posted vicious and obscene comments about Bruce Cutler, an individual “it” evidently hates.  I’ve captured all of this evidence.  The Darwin Exception was essentially devoted to trashing and undermining you.  I personally feel it might have been a means with which to communicate with jurors.  I’ve drawn the same conclusion about Sprocket’s blog.  Actually, Sprocket, Blaine, and many others, were posting on the Darwin Exception.  I have now concluded that these blogs were all coordinated with your trial.  I have also been targeted by all of these parties.  

Many of these individuals, including Susanne Walsh, have also targeted Paulette.  These parties are all defending Leonard Cohen, arguing his legal positions, and slandering me and now Paulette.  As I advised you previously, I started a Facebook page devoted to you, your trial, and the fact that you are innocent.  Susanne Walsh had Facebook remove the page.  When it was removed, you literally had hundreds of friends. 

As I’ve said, while publicly attacking and slandering me, Gianelli, Walsh, and others, relentlessly emailed me, terrorized my sons, contacted my elderly parents, harassed my sister, brother-in-law, friends, and everyone in my life.  They also transmitted their slanderous, false statements to government agencies such as IRS, FBI, and DOJ.  I refuted these email and internet attacks which were frequently copied to my sons, family members, and friends.  The harassment and slander generally related to Leonard Cohen, IRS, and you.  This scenario, which may very well have been intentionally designed, would ultimately lead to my being falsely arrested and imprisoned by the City Attorney of Los Angeles.  I was charged with violating a “domestic violence” order I was unaware of as well as annoying Leonard Cohen over his own conduct.  That would include his stories about you.  As I’ve said, Mick Brown informed me that he reviewed your Grand Jury transcripts and Cohen’s statements or testimony was presented to them.  I contacted the Grand Jury’s legal adviser who was unable to determine what witness presented these statements.  She advised me to contact your appellate attorneys.  Leonard Cohen advised me for approximately 20 years that you never held a gun on him and his statements to the media over the years were good rock ‘n roll stories.  I have heard countless, contradictory versions of his stories about you and believe none of them.  The prosecutor during my show trial, a woman who lied about everything to the jurors, elicited testimony from Cohen about you and the so called “gun” incident using an email I sent Dennis Riordan.  I informed Mr. Riordan that Cohen personally told me for twenty years that you never held a gun on him.  The prosecutor asked Cohen to review the email and confirm that he was a recipient.  He testified that he was and this allowed the prosecutor to elicit testimony about you and the infamous bullshit gun incident.  On cross-examination, Cohen confirmed that he was not a recipient.  He perjured himself on the stand about many things.  Alan Jackson and Steve Cooley were constant themes throughout my trial and Cooley literally had an investigator in the courtroom.  I assumed this was meant to intimidate me.  

Leonard Cohen has used baseless, fraudulent restraining orders to discredit and undermine me.  These courts hand them out like most people hand out Halloween candy.  LA Superior Court, without service or notice, assigned me a dating relationship with Cohen – who sexually harassed, sexually assaulted, and exposed his penis to me for years.  On March 23, 2012, at a so-called hearing prior to my trial, Cohen testified that we were in a purely business relationship and I never stole from him – just his peace of mind.  He was clearly not coached over those issues for that hearing and it obviously posed a problem for the prosecution which consisted of members of the City Attorney’s “Family Violence Unit.”  One cannot make this insanity up.  LA Superior Court, of course, has no remedies.  They continue to lie and have now exposed me to an extortionate, baseless lawsuit that involves Gianelli as I will explain below.  During my 2012 trial, Steve Cooley publicly aligned himself with Leonard Cohen.  Please keep in mind that at one point Cohen was represented by former DA Ira Reiner.  This may have led to the “anonymous tip” about our friendship being left for the DA’s office.  My public defender, who was nauseated, saw Cohen, Cooley’s investigator, and Cohen’s lawyers lunching together during my trial.  I think that sums things up.    My public defender concluded as follows:  the City Attorney was attempting to sabotage IRS (over Cohen), discredit me, the DA did not want your verdict overturned, and there may have been a juror plant on my jury.  I am aware that there may have been juror misconduct related to your trials as well.  My appellate attorney, who would end up being harassed by Gianelli and Walsh for over a year, wrote that he viewed my trial as an IRS matter that demanded an investigation.  Other conduct I evidently annoyed Cohen over was Rutger’s Whole Foods incident (where his fingers were ripped off), Ray’s custody matter (coordinated by Lindsey, Cohen, Kory, and possibly others), Bob Dylan and Paul Shaffer (whom I phoned to ask if there was some way they could help), federal tax matters, and some form of insanity with respect to IRS required tax and corporate information the prosecutor and her witnesses argued I was in possession of.  I was not.  This was the cornerstone of their set up trial and the jurors ultimately advised my lawyers that they wanted to hear from IRS so they understood perfectly well that one of the crucial issues related to my requests for tax and corporate information.  I am still not in possession of them and will now be forced to sue Cohen’s estate.  

Beginning in approximately November 2012, Gianelli and Walsh would begin emailing my so-called prosecutor, Sandra Jo Streeter.  Streeter is enamored of Cooley and Cohen.  In fact, she was gushing about them.  During my trial, she informed the jurors that Cooley elected not to prosecute Cohen.  I had filed a complaint with their Major Fraud Unit and was unaware that Pat Dixon and Alan Jackson ran that unit.  From my perspective, there may very well have been a quid pro quo that led to Cohen taking the stand and testifying about you and a gun.  It is important to note that my trial took place during the DA’s election campaign, both Alan Jackson and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich ran for that office, and David Mamet had recently informed the news media that he believed you were railroaded and was producing a film about your case.  Paulette actually gave me a copy of a ballot related to this election campaign and you were on it.  In other words, the powers that be in Los Angeles used you to advance their careers.  By the Spring of 2013, Streeter would use Gianelli’s communications, and my refutations, to retaliate against me.  Rutger, Ray, my sister, and Paulette were continuously harassed by the emails Gianelli and Walsh sent to the City Attorney. They frequently copied the City Attorney’s office and Investigator William Frayeh, who investigated elements of your case, on their utterly insane email communications.  

As it would turn out, Gianelli communicated extensively with Cohen’s lawyers, Robert Kory and Michelle Rice.  Not that long ago, they began what can only be described as an utterly moronic cover-your-ass operation.  

Paulette has been relentlessly harassed, stalked, threatened, and intimidated.  As you know, in June 2013, Paulette invited me to stay with her.  As of March 2013, Gianelli had begun harassing her.  Paulette sent me an email that confirmed what you told her after Clarkson’s death at your home.  Clarkson apparently advised you that “this is what I can do to your cock” before shooting herself.  I posted that email on my blog and Gianelli swooped in on Paulette.  

Since I spoke with you at dinner following the Clarkson incident, I don’t need anyone – least of all criminals stalking and harassing me and others – telling me what happened.  I distinctly recall asking you whether or not you killed this woman and your advising me that she shot herself and going into great detail about what happened.  I also recall your advising me that the gun was not yours.  

In or around February 2015, Paulette and I participated in interviews with a small internet radio program, Truth Sentinel.  Ann Diamond participated as well.  The interviews were broken down into two segments:  one about you and your case and one about Leonard Cohen and what actually unfolded between us.  Ann Diamond discussed her history with Cohen and his so-called involvement in CIA’s MK Ultra Program.  I have no knowledge of his involvement in any such program but Cohen personally advised me that he was a participant in this program.  Immediately after our interviews were posted online, which ultimately concluded that you were innocent and Cohen may very well have been guilty, Stephen Gianelli descended.  He continues to slander me and Ann Diamond on that site.  The issues he is slandering me over primarily relate to Leonard Cohen and his fraudulent legal matters that involve me.  

Stephen Gianelli also writes third parties slandering me and Paulette.  One of those individuals is a gentleman by the name of Alan Hootnick who believes you are innocent.  At some point, not too long ago, Gianelli began emailing Alan Hootnick and me.  He attempted to elicit information about Paulette and my communications with you and your attorneys.  Gianelli informed us that he has someone who communicates with you regularly.  He advised us that you and I are not friends.  Gianelli also wrote that his associate read you an entirely slanderous article he wrote about me which also slandered Paulette Brandt.  It is beyond obvious that Gianelli is not only an unofficial member of Leonard Cohen’s legal team but affiliated with your prosecution.  At some point on the Truth Sentinel site, where Paulette and my interviews appeared, Gianelli posted that the gun Clarkson used to shoot herself was yours and stated that Clarkson’s DNA was not on the ammunition.  This is a man that has followed every element of your trial so it is my personal opinion that he made these remarks to elicit information from people about your appeal.  Your lawyers argued that the gun was not yours, Bruce Cutler advised Mick Brown that the gun was not yours, and your appeal brief clearly confirmed that Clarkson’s DNA was on the ammunition.  No one who supports you would argue these issues in the manner in which Gianelli did.  

Another point of interest is the fact that Gary [Spector] recently posted online that he believes you are guilty because you never told him you were innocent.  Louis [Spector] posted that you had guns, such as the Colt .38, in your Beverly Hills home and commented that the gun Clarkson used to shoot herself was “registered to someone who used to work” for you.  I have been advised by a very reliable source that this gun belonged to your former employee Michelle Blaine.  She evidently planted the gun in the drawer the night Clarkson shot herself and told Clarkson to use it in the “routine” she always used on her escort clients.  I believe another investigator has gathered admissible evidence and am praying that it finds the light of day.
  
I am wondering if you have ever previously had any types of dealings with Gianelli.  This man should absolutely be investigated.  

By the way, I spoke to Stephen Machat who confirmed with Sony that Leonard Cohen sold your master tapes (Death of a Ladies’ Man) to them.  Stephen, who negotiated the contracts related to that album, also confirmed that you owned the masters, all royalties were to be paid directly to you, and Cohen’s accounts with CBS/Sony were not to be recouped using any income from this album.  As you will recall, I called Sony personally about your interest in this album, and the fact that Cohen was receiving all royalty income, sometime after Marty’s death.  

I was wondering if you would be willing to provide me with a declaration about Leonard Cohen, his lies about you over the years, the theft of your master tapes and royalties, as well as any information you have with respect to his tax history.  I do recall all your faxes over the years “joking” about Leonard Cohen and his tax matters.  It does appear that he has a history of tax evasion, in the United States and Canada, dating back to 1970 when he obtained his first green card.  That might explain the lengths he has gone to destroy my life, target my sons and elderly parents, and – due to his good rock ‘n roll gun stories about you – it might even explain why the District Attorney and City Attorney of Los Angeles publicly aligned themselves with him and targeted me.  

I’ve heard that you have experienced difficulties with your mail.  Therefore, I’ve sent copies of this letter to Bruce Cutler, Donald Horgan, Dennis Riordan, Charles Sevilla, and, Doron Weinberg.  I believe the information I am sending you relates to your trial, Leonard Cohen, and Paulette and my utterly inane situations. 

I hope your health has improved and pray for you constantly.

                                                                        Love,



cc:  Bruce Cutler, Donald Horgan, Dennis Riordan, Doron Weinberg, and, Charles Sevilla


Friday, December 2, 2016

Leonard Cohen & the Men Who Held Guns on Him

Leonard Cohen and the Bay of Pigs

The story of a young Cohen in Cuba. Read this story in Somersault’s free pdf issue!
By Evan Fleischer (Evan Fleischer lives in Boston, Massachusetts. When he isn’t editing Somersault Magazine, he is a writer-at-large.)
image
On one side, 1,400 American paratroopers tried to invade Cuba in April of 1961. On another side, Cuba repelled the invasion. And on the third side – the underappreciated side – a 27 year old Canadian by the name of Leonard Cohen was certainly doing something, though the nailed down quality of what it actually was seems to be up in the air.
In one telling, Cohen went to Cuba because he was “fighting on both sides.” In another, he went because of “a deep interest in violence. I was very interested in what it really meant for a man to to carry arms and to kill other men – and how attracted I was exactly to that process.” And in the the third, he went, he got drunk (on rum, Cuba libre, or mojitosquien sabe; déjame en paz y me deja escribir), spent his time with late night movie operators and hookers, was woken up by an official from the Canadian embassy, taken to said embassy, and politely and firmly informed that his mother was worried about him.
Of the latter – Cuban militants tried to bomb the airport, the press of which overplayed the danger of the reality, thereby attracting his mother’s attention – Cohen said that he felt feisty when he’d been woken by the embassy official, like Upton Sinclair. “I was on an important mission!” 
Cohen’s first album is four years off at this time. Let us cheat with the Oujia Board you and I both share and re-introduce the names of AM Klein, FR Scott, Irving Layton, and Lorca, Lorca, Federico Garcia Lorca (a marble-like polaris Cohen enjoyed to roll with others in his hand like worry beads, like prayer beads, like an oddly shaped coin he keeps in his pocket because it makes him smile) to the equation – and when he’s there, he’s in khaki shorts, lets his beard to stubble length, and returns to his old habits of staying up ‘til three in the morning.  
Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone.
Come the Havana evening, Leonard – in the words of one biographer – joined “the pimps, hookers, gamblers, small-time criminals, and black marketers … roamed the urban slums of Jesus del Monte to the swank waterfront suburbs of Miramar.
There’s also this.
Ira Nadel – the biographer quoted above – explains: “Wearing his khakis and carrying a hunting knife, he was suddenly surrounded by twelve soldiers with Czech submachine guns. It was late at night and they thought he was the first of an American landing team. They marched him to the local police station while he repeated the only Spanish he knew, a slogan of Castro’s: Amistad del pueblo, ‘Friendship of the People.’ This made no impression on his captors, but after an hour and a half of interrogation, Cohen convinced them he was not a spy buy a fan of the regime who wanted to be there.”
Yes you who must leave everything that you cannot control. 
He convinced them he was an innocent man. They brought out rum and bequeathed him a necklace of shells and bullets. The next morning, he was driven back to Havana. It’s there this picture was taken. It’s there he runs into American communists. It’s there he’s called a bourgeois individualist.
Anti-aircraft fire fills the night. A platoon runs down the street and crouches behind the statue of an iron lion. “Hopelessly Hollywood,” Cohen later wrote. 
The next morning he shaved and put on a seersucker suit and wrote a letter to Jack McClelland, a Canadian publisher. “Just think how well the book would sell if I’m hit in an air-raid. What great publicity! Don’t tell me you haven’t been considering it.” 
Cohen was temporarily detained, and – given that – tried to leave the country. When he did, he discovered a red line drawn through his name on a clipboard at the airport and was directed to a security room, at which point the picture of him with the militants was discovered. They put him under a guard, a fourteen year old with a rifle, a fourteen year old with whom he then tried to have an argument, which went nowhere. A scuffle broke out somewhere in the airport. The teenage guard ran off to assist. Cohen was left alone.
Cohen looked around, repacked his bag, got back in line, and boarded. No one asked for his ticket.
A poem to mark the occasion comes quickly, blithely and fearsomely announcing in “the only tourist in Havana turns his thoughts homewards” – 
Come, my brothers,
let us govern Canada,
let us find our serious heads,
let us dump asbestos on the White House,
let us make the French talk English,
not only here but everywhere,
let us torture the Senate individually
until they confess,
let us purge the New Party,
let us encourage the dark races
so they’ll be lenient
when they take over,
let us make the C.B.C. talk English,
let us all lean in one direction
and float down
to the coast of Florida,
let us have tourism,
let us flirt with the enemy,
let us smelt pig-iron in our backyards,
let us sell snow
to under-developed nations,
(Is it true one of our national leaders
was a Roman Catholic?)
let us terrorize Alaska,
let us unite
Church and State,
let us not take it lying down,
let us have two Governor Generals
at the same time,
let us have another official language,
let us determine what it will be,
let us give a Canada Council Fellowship
to the most original suggestion,
let us teach sex in the home
to parents,
let us threaten to join the U.S.A.
and pull out at the last moment,
my brothers, come,
our serious heads are waiting for us somewhere
like Gladstone bags abandoned
after a coup d'etat,
let us put them on very quickly,
let us maintain a stony silence
on the St Lawrence Seaway. 
Cuba drifted forward under the thumb of the embargo. LBJ did his best to carry forward Kennedy’s legacy. Cohen pivoted outward, and was only ever truly drawn in again by the politics of the moment by the events that made 1989 such a momentous year, a year in which something – some faint drum rattle – came in through a hole in the air in Berlin, Tiananmen Square, and elsewhere. 

Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Whatever Happened to Kelley Lynch? by Ann Diamond

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Whatever Happened to Kelley Lynch?

Kelley Lynch is the woman accused in 2005 of skimming millions from singer Leonard Cohen’s retirement fund. I knew of her through friends of Leonard Cohen, and had heard her described in glowing terms as the agent who, singlehandedly, saved Cohen’s career in the 1990s.


In early May of this year, Lynch suddenly contacted me. She said she was mainly interested in my perceptions of Cohen as a former friend and next door neighbour in Montreal. At one time I also studied with his Zen Master in California, and had spent time with him on Hydra, Greece.

Not having heard her side of the story (I doubt that anyone has, apart from a circle of her closest friends), I was curious. Over the next few weeks, she shared several documents pertaining to the case including an affidavit written and signed by her older son, Rutger.

Together, they paint a picture very much at variance from the sketchy media image of Lynch as a reckless, delusional woman on the brink of a career meltdown. Lynch's own timeline also includes disturbing behind-the-scene dealings that suggest she may have been set up to take the blame for Cohen's tax situation.

The following account is based on what Lynch has sent me --

Since 2005 when she became the object of media gossip, little if anything has been heard from Kelley Lynch.

A single mother with two sons, Lynch was Leonard Cohen's personal manager from approximately 1988 to 2004, and was known for her skill, hard work, and dedication. Until 2004, Kelley lived and worked in Los Angeles where she still has many friends and acquaintances in the entertainment world including Phil Spector and Oliver Stone.

Her own account of the events that wrecked her career, varies widely from the media portrait of a reckless, delusional woman in the throes of a personal meltdown. The meltdown was real, however. By late December, 2005, Lynch had lost custody of one son and was homeless and living on the streets with her older son, Rutger, who witnessed the chain of bizarre events that had begun a year earlier. 


In 2004, Lynch owned a house in Brentwood, and still worked for Cohen, who owed her money for royalties and other services, but was increasingly involved with his new girlfriend, Anjani Thomas, ex-wife of Cohen’s attorney, Robert Kory.


In retrospect, Lynch believes she was set up by Cohen and his representatives to help cover up a tax situation which made the IRS “nervous.” In September 2004, Cohen’s attorney Weston told Lynch that a financial entity known as Traditional Holdings, LLC could be overturned by the IRS. Lynch, who had been selected as a partner on the entity, became uneasy and consulted a new accountant, who referred her to tax lawyers, who found irregularities in Cohen's tax history, both in the US and Canada where he has residences.

Rattled by what she was hearing – that she was being dragged into criminal tax fraud -- Lynch called the IRS in Washington and also contacted their website. An IRS collection agent advised her to call the Fraud Hotline, which she did.

Told that any further action on her part might implicate her in fraud, Lynch refused to meet with Cohen or turn over the corporate books. At that stage, Cohen’s advisers began claiming that certain payments, distributions, or advances made to her were actually "over-payments." Lynch says their accounting was incomplete and ignored her share of intellectual property, unpaid commissions and royalties, and share in Traditional Holdings, LLC. Apparently Lynch had also been issued K1 partnership tax documents and made a partner on another Cohen investment entity, LC Investments, LLC, without her permission or awareness.

Lynch says an increasingly nervous and desperate Cohen was pressuring her to agree to mediation and told a friend of hers that Lynch was "the love of his life." She and Cohen had had a brief affair in 1990, but Cohen now was offering her 50% of his "community property" as well as "palimony" through lawyer Robert Kory at a meeting attended by Lynch's legal representatives and her accountant, Dale Burgess. To Lynch, none of this made sense at the time.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles District Attorney's office received an anonymous tip informing them that Lynch was a friend of producer Phil Spector, whom Lynch maintains is innocent. Cohen, on the other hand, had given an interview in which he described a gun-waving Spector who threatened him during recording sessions in 1977.



At around the same time he was offering her “millions”, Lynch says, Cohen was also circulating slanderous stories about her. She believes Cohen encouraged Los Angeles record producer Steve Lindsey, the father of her son Ray, to initiate a custody suit – on May 25, 2005, the same day a 25-man SWAT team from the LAPD, acting on a bogus 911 call, suddenly cordoned off her street and surrounded her home in response to a "hostage taking."

Earlier that morning, Lynch says, her 12 year old son Ray woke up not feeling well. She sent an email to his school informing them she was keeping him at home. When the boy's father found out Ray was home he became agitated and abusive over the phone to Lynch.

Lynch says she had young people who worked for her coming and going that day, and did not want Ray’s father coming to the house and attacking her, as he had in the past. She called her older son Rutger, who was visiting a friend nearby, and asked him to pick Ray up and take him down the hill where actress Cloris Leachman waited in her car. Leachman, a friend of Lindsey, took charge of Ray – just as seven LAPD squad cars came speeding up Mandeville Canyon Road in the direction of Lynch’s house. With them was Ray’s father, Steve Lindsey.

Lynch says she looked out the window and saw armed men on her lawn. Her son Rutger and his friends were telling police there was no hostage-taking, that they had spent the morning with Lynch, and that there must be some mistake. For reasons no one understands, LAPD/Inglewood PD decided to believe Steve Lindsey, who had left the scene.

Police later gave varying explanations about what led up to the incident. West LAPD said they responded to a report that someone heard "shots fired." But a company that oversees SWAT said Lynch would have to have a superior caliber weapon to warrant such a high risk entry. A member of the SWAT team claimed to have seen a note that Lynch’s sister had placed the call stating Lynch posed “a danger to herself and everyone around her.” Her sister denies this.

Lynch stayed inside her house and called her former custody lawyer, Lee Kanon Alpert. She also called Leonard Cohen, assuming he had played a role in the events unfolding on her lawn. Lynch says she knew Steve Lindsey had also been meeting with Cohen and his attorney, and had recently told their son Ray that Lynch was “going to jail,” upsetting the boy. She says Cohen taped the phone call later used in his successful court case against her – for which, Lynch says, she never received a summons.

Lynch says, “Police were on my hillside and crouching under my kitchen window.” She says the standoff on her lawn continued for several more hours, disrupting the neighbourhood. Members of Inglewood Police Department also participated in the operation.

Eventually, she decided to go into the back yard. Seeing her son Rutger acting as a “human shield and hostage negotiator,” Lynch ventured out front with her Akita on leash and joked to the cops: "Who am I supposed to be holding hostage? My dog?"

The police responded by telling her son they would only shoot Lynch and her dog if necessary.

“That was when I dove into the pool.”

SWAT team members searched her house. As they entered, Lynch's African Grey parrot, Lou, called out: "I see dead people!" – further alarming the nervous cops.

Offering her a hand out of the pool, one officer said they were only there to help her and not to hurt her.

“No one asked me if I was all right; no one questioned me about my well-being.” The Medical Examiners Office later wondered how the police had evaluated her. After stating they were not arresting her, they handcuffed Lynch, still in her bikini. On her way out the door, her son managed to hand her a brocade jacket.

Although she lived near UCLA Medical Center, she was taken in a squad car to King-Drew Medical Centre in Watts, 40 miles away and a three-hour drive in traffic. Known as one of America’s worst hospitals, King-Drew was recently closed down as a place where patients routinely die from neglect and medical errors. During the long ride through South Central Los Angeles, Lynch says she was questioned closely about her relationship with Phil Spector, who had been charged with first degree murder of Lana Clarkson. In the car, Lynch voiced concern over what awaited her at the hospital but was told by a woman cop: "This will be good for you."

“I felt I was being kidnapped”.

At Emergency, the admitting psychiatrist administered anti-psychotic drugs without authorization and left Lynch in the waiting area for hours, still in her bikini and brocade jacket, and handcuffed to a chair. A nurse advised her she would be transferred – but did not tell her where. Examining her file, the nurse noticed it listed her as 19 years old with wrong social security number, wrong date of birth, wrong religion, and her name misspelled as "Kelly Lynch" Lynch thinks it was the same file she had seen, several months earlier, in the hands of the Special Investigator who came to question her about Spector.

A second doctor told her to wait her turn to ensure no further harm would come to her, and assured her that nothing in the King Drew report could cause her to lose custody of her child. The following day, she was released after nearly 24 hours in the psych ward.

Back home, Lynch learned that while she was being held at the hospital her younger son's father, Steven Clark Lindsey, had filed for custody of her son Ray Charles Lindsey and obtained a restraining order denying her access to the boy. She says Lindsey attempted to convince doctors at King Drew that she was dangerous, in order to have her committed, She says Lindsey also threatened the psychiatrist who had her released.

On that same day, Cohen’s attorney Robert Kory filed a Declaration in the custody matter, as did Betsy Superfon (a friend of Cohen, Kory and Lindsey who had befriended Lynch a few months earlier ). Superfon later told Lynch she didn't realize what she was signing, and that Cohen had offered Lindsey money “or something else” to take Ray away from Lynch.

Her older son alleges Lindsey offered him money to go to Leonard Cohen's lawyer's office and transfer or sign over Lynch’s house to Cohen or his attorney Robert Kory. Rutger refused and phoned his own father, who advised him to contact a lawyer.

Two weeks later, in early June, as she drove down her street to buy dog food, a Mercedes sped out of a neighbouring driveway and rear-ended her car, Lynch was thrown forward, fracturing her nose against the steering well, and was knocked unconscious. Later, she says, as she drove back up the hill to her home, the same driver was standing in his driveway and called out: “We are watching you” as she passed.


Seeing his injured, bleeding mother enter the house, her older son again phoned his father, who may have called 911. Accounts vary as whether the call referred to an incident of "domestic violence" or a "drug overdose." Either way, police arrived at Lynch’s door for the second time in two weeks. Over the protests of her son, they entered while she was on the phone to a friend, Dr. Wendi Knaak who stayed on the phone talking with Rutger while police again handcuffed Lynch. This time they took her to UCLA hospital where her obvious head injuries were ignored. Instead, she was once again drugged and placed in the psychiatric unit where she remained for several days.

Lynch and her advisors maintain these events were coordinated by Cohen, Kory and Lindsey, with the help of former LA District Attorney Ira Reiner in a well- orchestrated plan to traumatize and discredit her – paving the way for media stories which accused her of skimming millions from Cohen’s retirement fund.

In the summer of 2005, as Lynch was struggling to save her home and protect her child from a father her friends describe as "viciously anti-social" and “violent”, reports of Leonard Cohen's financial troubles hit the press. They alleged the 70-something singer had been scammed by his personal manager, Kelley Lynch, who colluded with an advisor at the AGILE Group in Colorado to send him false financial statements while emptying his accounts of millions of dollars.

Although listed as the owner of Traditional Holdings, the entity in question, Lynch says she never received any statements from the AGILE Group -- who instead had been sending them to Cohen -- having changed her mailing address to Cohen's home in Los Angeles. She has since filed a complaint with the US Post Office for mail tampering.

She insists Cohen sued her because she went to the IRS about his tax situation. She says he is not, and never was, "broke" and that missing funds went to buy homes for his son Adam Cohen and girlfriend, singer Anjani Thomas, ex-wife of Robert Kory. Noting Cohen is famous for his financial largesse and once gave Zen Master Sasaki Roshi $500,000 as a gift, Lynch also cites hefty payments to advisers, various transaction fees, personal taxes, and other monies which may have been sent offshore.


While Cohen and Lindsey attempted to persuade others, including LA Superior Court, that she intended to flee to Tibet or another non-extradition country, Lynch was isolated and penniless and still in Los Angeles. Lynch was former personal secretary to the late Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a flamboyant Tibetan spiritual teacher who founded Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado in the 1970s, and died in 1987. She says various Tibetan lamas are praying for her safety.

Journalists covering the story were either unable, or didn't bother, to track Lynch down, and most reported Cohen's statements as fact. The NY Times contacted Kelley for a quote which they never printed

By July 2005, Lynch had lost her custody battle and Ray went to live with his father. On December 28, she and Rutger were evicted from the house in Brentwood, and ended up homeless in Santa Monica, which has no resources for the homeless. The Police Department gave her no help and, she claims, laughed when she brought in evidence that she was being stalked by a known serial killer while she camped on the beach.

In 2006, Cohen was awarded a symbolic $9 million settlement in a civil suit against Lynch, who still does not have a lawyer representing her. Corporate books and other evidence of fraud appear to have been overlooked by Judge Ken Freeman in his judgment, Lynch says, although she admits she has not read the court documents and was never served a summons. At the time of the decision, she told reporters she lacked the money to make a phone call. That same year, her older son lost his fingers in an accident with a meat grinder while he was working at Whole Foods in Los Angeles and Lynch could not afford a bus ticket to visit him in hospital.

Lynch heard through a journalist that Cohen later testified for the District Attorney’s office in a secret grand jury relating to the Phil Spector case with former District Attorney Ira Reiner acting as his lawyer. Reiner is a personal friend of Cohen, and as D.A. presided over some high-profile cases including the “Night Stalker” serial killer and the McMartin Day Care scandal.

Recently, on June 17, 2008, Cohen's lawsuit against the Agile Group was thrown out of court for lack of evidence. In response the AGILE Group dropped its counter-suit accusing Cohen of defamation and fraud. AGILE still claims to be shocked that a singer of Leonard Cohen's talent and stature would engage in false accusations against his own representatives.

Lynch believes Cohen and AGILE colluded to defraud her. She continues to deny all allegations against her, and remains hopeful that Phil Spector's lawyer, Bruce Cutler, will represent her in recouping damages to her livelihood and reputation. 

These days Cohen’s fans seem to have expended their rage at Kelley Lynch for driving their idol into bankruptcy. Some now say she unwittingly did them a service -- by forcing him to go on tour for the first time in nearly two decades.

At 74, singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen continues to ride a wave of sympathy, gathering wide support from the music world and even some British royalty. Unquestionably, his career and finances have benefited from news reports that he is too impoverished to retire.

From his tower of song, Cohen has written:

I smile when I'm angry
I cheat and I lie
I do what I have to do
To get by

And I’m always alone
And my heart is like ice
And it’s crowded and cold
In my secret life

My Secret Life. Leonard Cohen

His many admirers need to listen closely.

NOTE:  Kelley Lynch was not Cohen's lover; Cohen or one of his representatives evidently changed her mailing address from her home to Cohen's Los Angeles home; and Lynch was His Holiness Kusum Lingpa's personal assistant and remains his lineage holder.