Leonard Cohen's heirs sue law firm claiming forgery and cover-up

LOS ANGELES (CN) — The surviving children of celebrated singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen sued the law firm Ervin Cohen & Jessup over its role in an inheritance battle between them and Cohen’s former manager.

Lorca and Adam Cohen sued their father’s former manager, Robert Kory, in 2022, accusing him of forging documents to install himself as the sole trustee of Cohen’s estate and various other breaches of fiduciary duty. In a cross-complaint, Kory said he worked diligently to plan Cohen’s estate so that his wealth would pass mostly to his children and not to charities, as it had been previously earmarked for.

The newer complaint, filed Tuesday in LA Superior Court, accuses Kory’s former attorney, Reeve Chudd, formerly a partner at the Beverly Hills-based law firm Ervin Cohen & Jessup, of playing a key role in Kory’s schemes. Cohen, they say, selected Kory as his successor trustee but changed his mind in 2010 and reinstated his children as trustees.

“Even so, Kory managed to be named the trustee after Cohen’s death,” the complaint reads. “How did Kory seize the trusteeship and, with it, access to Cohen’s fortune if the operative trust documents named others as co-trustees? Because [Chudd and his firm] committed forgery to install Kory as trustee, then covered it up for years.”

The Cohens add in their complaint: “Self-dealing followed. From 2018 to June 2023, Kory and his family burned through at least $8 million of trust assets. As the purported trustee, Kory paid millions to himself, his affiliates and his family.”

Chudd, they say, has admitted to the forgery in a deposition as part of a probate action to remove Kory as trustee. Even so, they say, the firm has continued “turning a blind eye to Kory’s self-dealing and covering up its own wrongdoing” and, in return, was paid $2.6 million in legal fees from the trust.

The Canadian-born Cohen was an acclaimed poet before he turned to music, authoring such songs as “Suzanne,” “Everybody Knows,” and “Hallelujah,” which achieved fame after being covered by Jeff Buckley. His later life was marked by financial troubles. In 2005, he sued former manager Kelley Lynch, accusing her of stealing more than $5 million from a fund he set up for his retirement, leaving only $150,000. He won the suit and was awarded $9 million, although it’s unclear if he was ever able to collect any of it.

Nearly destitute, Cohen was forced to mount a comeback, embarking on a world tour to repair his fortune. The tour was a success, and Cohen continued to play concerts and even put out a few more albums.

In his cross-complaint against Cohen’s children, Kory claims credit for Cohen’s comeback. He also took credit for negotiating the sale of Cohen’s musical catalog to a song management group, a deal he said earned the heirs tens of millions of dollars.

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