Leonard Cohen’s kids in battle over ‘Hallelujah’ singer’s $48M estate

Leonard Cohen had been burned earlier than. So within the years earlier than his demise in 2016, the “Hallelujah” singer and poet labored to safe most of his multi-million greenback property for the advantage of his heirs — who are actually preventing for whole management of the Canadian musician’s property, The Put up has realized.

It’s a battle that features accusations of forgery, secrets and techniques and allegations that the singer didn’t belief his personal offspring to run his property.

Cohen’s two grownup kids — daughter Lorca Cohen, 48, and son Adam Cohen, 50 — have been battling in Los Angeles Superior Courtroom for greater than a 12 months to take away legal professional Robert Kory, appointed by the musician earlier than his demise, as a trustee to the Leonard Cohen Household Belief, based on court docket paperwork reviewed by The Put up.

The belief controls tens of tens of millions of dollars in royalties for Cohen’s music in addition to poetry, novels, images and 243 journal notebooks that Cohen, 82 when he died, had stored since he was a young person. The so-called Leonard Cohen Archive is valued at greater than $48 million, court docket filings say.

Cohen died on Nov. 7, 2016, after a fall in the midst of the evening at his Los Angeles house. “The demise was sudden, sudden and peaceable,” Kory mentioned on the time.

Cohen’s property consists of copious notes on his biggest hits — together with the revelation that he wrote 82 verses for “Hallelujah.”

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The Cohen kids say that their father “got here to understand in his waning days that he had made a grave error by permitting Kory to insinuate himself into Leonard’s affairs and take management over nearly each facet of Leonard’s funds and legacy,” based on court docket papers.

Lorca and Adam declare that they haven't been stored apprised by Kory of current efforts to monetize his property, together with the posthumous publication of a Cohen novel, “A Ballet of Lepers,”printed earlier this 12 months, and the opening of “Everyone Is aware of,”an exhibit at Toronto’s Artwork Gallery of Ontario, which opens to the general public Tuesday.

Lorca, seen right here together with her father, and her brother, Adam, are the youngsters of Leonard Cohen and Suzanne Elrod.

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Adam (above) and Lorca every obtain an annual wage of $400,000 from their father’s belief.

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The siblings additionally complain in court docket papers that Kory has employed his son, Ryan Kory, amongst others, to archive Cohen’s private papers, which embody copious notes on his biggest hits — together with “Hallelujah,” for which he initially wrote 82 verses — based on court docket data. The archive can be mentioned to incorporate extra 8,000 images.

Now, a lawyer employed two months in the past by Adam, a musician, and Lorca, a photographer, mentioned that he has proof that Kory solid paperwork in 2005 with the intention to management the singer’s legacy.

Lawyer Robert Kory was named as a trustee of Cohen’s property by the musician himself. However, Cohen’s kids declare, the singer “got here to understand in his waning days that he had made a grave error by permitting Kory to insinuate himself into Leonard’s affairs.”

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“Leonard Cohen’s attorneys and supervisor solid his belief so they may fleece the property of tens of millions of dollars and steal the Corridor of Famer’s legacy from his personal kids,” legal professional Adam Streisand advised The Put up.

Streisand, who's a cousin of the singer Barbra Streisand, mentioned that there are two variations of the belief doc signed by Cohen earlier than his demise. Within the model that advantages the youngsters, the belief doc designates Lorca, Adam and Anjani Thomas — Cohen’s former lover and Kory’s former spouse — as trustees after his demise. Streisand advised The Put up that after Cohen died, a lawyer “swapped out … the web page that claims Adam, Lorca and Anjani, with a brand new web page … that claims Kory is designated trustee.”

An legal professional for the Cohen kids claimed that “Leonard Cohen’s attorneys and supervisor solid his belief so they may fleece the property of tens of millions of dollars and steal the Corridor of Famer’s legacy.”

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“The one and solely true model of the Belief appoints Adam, Lorca and Anjani Thomas,” based on court docket papers seen by The Put up.

For his half, Kory, 72, has vehemently denied any wrongdoing in court docket papers, and has attributed any confusion within the paperwork to “a scrivener’s error.” He mentioned that he has gone to nice lengths to maintain Lorca and Adam within the loop, offering month-to-month statements on the funds and work of the LCFT, based on court docket paperwork. He additionally mentioned in a declaration to the court docket earlier this fall that he arrange quite a few conferences informing Lorca and Adam concerning the artwork present in addition to the publication of Cohen’s novel.

The copyright on “A Ballet of Lepers,” is Outdated Concepts, LLC, an organization managed equally by the LCFT, Lorca and Adam, based on court docket papers, which additionally state that the youngsters are receiving annual salaries of greater than $400,000 every along with undisclosed income from royalties on account of Kory’s tax planning for the property.

A former Cohen lawyer claimed in 2021 that the musician “was involved that his kids didn’t have a sufficiently comfy relationship to work collectively upon the complexities of the artist’s property.”

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“In 2016, with out Mr. Kory’s request, Mr. Cohen instructed me to alter the successor trustee to Mr. Kory,” writes Reeve Chudd, a lawyer for Cohen in an April 8, 2021, letter included in court docket papers. “He [Cohen] was involved that his kids didn’t have a sufficiently comfy relationship to work collectively upon the complexities of the artist’s property.”

Cohen wished the change to be stored secret, court docket papers say. “Whereas Mr. Cohen didn’t want for this variation in succession of trusteeship to be revealed to his kids, Mr. Kory insisted, and this was defined to Adam and Lorca at a gathering in September 2015,” Chudd continued in his letter.

Following in his father’s footsteps, Adam Cohen can be a singer-songwriter.

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Throughout his lifetime, Cohen, who was born in Montreal in 1934, was beneficiant to his kids, shopping for Adam a house and Lorca a Los Angeles retailer valued at greater than $1 million, based on court docket papers.

“Later in life, viewing the abundance of wealth he’d already handed right down to trusts for his kids, Mr. Cohen complained, solely half in jest, that Mr. Kory had turned him into King Lear,” Chudd famous within the letter.

Reached by The Put up at his Los Angeles workplace, Chudd declined to remark.

Earlier than his demise, Cohen purchased a Los Angeles boutique, valued at greater than $1 million, for Lorca.

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Kory didn't return The Put up’s requires remark. Adam and Lorca Cohen declined remark by Streisand.

In 2005, the musician had sued his former longtime supervisor Kelley Lynch, claiming that she had stolen extra $5 million from a fund arrange for his retirement. The theft allegedly occurred whereas he was on a five-year retreat at a Zen Buddhist monastery in California. Lynch, additionally a Buddhist and Cohen’s former love, denied the claims.

“What can I do?” Cohen advised the Canadian information journal Macleans on the time. “I needed to go to work. I've no cash left.”

Cohen returned to touring, acting at live performance venues around the globe as a septuagenarian with the intention to recoup his losses.

Later, in 2012, Lynch was sentenced to 18 months in jail and 5 years probation for what a Los Angeles court docket choose known as “lengthy, unrelenting barrage of harassing habits” in the direction of Cohen that turned so dangerous that he mentioned mentioned it had made him worry for his life.