Singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen may never see the $9.5 million a court ordered his former business manager to pay after she failed to respond to allegations of stealing from his retirement savings, Cohen’s attorney said.
A Superior Court judge granted the 71-year old Cohen, known for reflective songs such as “Suzanne,” a default judgment Monday. He claimed in a lawsuit that Kelley Lynch siphoned $5 million from his personal accounts and investments.
He was left with a nest egg of about $150,000, the lawsuit claims.
“She’s hard to get in touch with. I don’t know where she lives now, and I don’t have a phone number for her,” said Cohen’s attorney, Scott Edelman. “We don’t know what she did with the money. ... But she knows what’s going on because she leaves me phone messages at all hours.”
Lynch could not be located for comment.
Edelman said Lynch, who worked for Cohen for 17 years until he fired her, also refused to return photographs, records and memorabilia, even after a court order.
“We went into her home four months ago with a sheriff and a moving truck to get his stuff,” the lawyer said.
Another defendant in the suit, tax professor and lawyer Richard Westin, reached an out-of-court settlement with Cohen on Feb. 13, details of which were not revealed.
Westin’s attorney did not immediately return calls for comment Thursday.
“Leonard is sad that this whole thing took place, but glad that this leg of the litigation is completed,” Edelman said. “He would prefer to spend his time on his creative endeavors.”