Leonard Cohen's manager emptied his retirement fund, and after his death his children found a forged page in his trust

Kelley Lynch was Leonard Cohen's manager for almost 17 years, from 1988. While he lived at a Zen monastery, his retirement savings of more than $5 million fell to about $150,000. Accountants found about $8.4 million missing over time. He fired her in 2004 and sued in 2005. On 27 February 2006 a Los Angeles Superior Court judge entered a $9.5 million default judgment after she did not respond. Cohen did not collect it. In April 2012 a Los Angeles jury convicted Lynch of harassing him and violating restraining orders, and on 19 April she was sentenced to 18 months and five years of probation. Cohen died in 2016. His lawyer and manager Robert Kory took over as trustee of the Leonard Cohen Family Trust. In 2021 the children's lawyer found two versions of the trust. One named Adam Cohen, Lorca Cohen and Anjani Thomas as successor trustees. The other named Kory. The children alleged forgery in Los Angeles Superior Court. They removed Kory in 2022. In 2025 they sued the estate lawyer Reeve Chudd and his former firm, Ervin Cohen & Jessup. They allege Chudd swapped the page after Cohen's death and that Kory charged the trust about $18.2 million from 2018 to 2023. They seek more than $25 million. The 2025 case had no reported ruling as of October 2026.