A wealth-management firm dropped a defamation lawsuit against singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen after a judge threw out his claims that the adviser caused him to lose more than $4.5 million in retirement savings.
U.S. District Judge Lewis T. Babcock in Denver agreed to the dismissal in a June 2 order. Last year, Babcock ruled in favor of Boulder-based Agile Group on most of Cohen’s claims, which included fraud and breach of fiduciary duty.
“I continue to be shocked and saddened that a man of Leon ard’s talent, integrity and intelligence would threaten and attack us in this way,” Agile Group chief executive Neil Greenberg said in a statement distributed by Business Wire on Tuesday.
Cohen, whose songs include “Suzanne” and “Bird on a Wire,” sued in 2005 after learning that $4.7 million of his money in a mutual fund managed by Agile Group had dwindled to $150,000, according to a February order by Babcock.
Most of the money was withdrawn via loans to Cohen and his former manager, Los Angeles-based Kelley Lynch, who for tax reasons held a 99.5 percent share of the holding company that invested in the fund, according to Babcock. Most of Cohen’s wealth came from the sale of his royalty rights, the judge said.
“For reasons unknown and unknowable, Leonard Cohen gave a trusted agent — Kelley Lynch — complete and unlimited control over his finances,” Babcock wrote in February. “Looking back, Cohen now tries to pin responsibility on” Agile Group.
“I deny all allegations . . . and will respond legally in due course,” Lynch said in an e-mail Tuesday.
