Today, April 8, 2009, is the 15th anniversary of the discovery of Kurt Cobain’s body at his home outside Seattle, WA. And while the anniversary of one’s death is usually a time for paying homage, this has been a tough week for the Nirvana frontman’s widow Courtney Love.
According to Love, several of the people handling his estate have stolen a large chunk of the money Cobain had left her and their daughter, Frances Bean.
“I have never seen such greed and moral turpitude. This case is going to make [disgraced Wall Street financier] Bernard Madoff look warm and fuzzy,” Love’s lawyer, Rhonda J. Holmes, told the New York Post.
A team of investigators, forensic accountants, and lawyers reportedly found that Cobain’s estate had been robbed of more than $30 million cash and up to $500 million in real estate.
Which begs the question (for people unfamiliar with Love’s periodic retreats from reality): When we’re talking about these gigantic sums, how did Love not notice?
“Courtney noticed the money was gone when there wasn’t any left,” said Holmes. “It’s no secret she struggled with substance-abuse issues, but in the last year she’s taken a more serious approach to sobriety and started noticing things were wrong. She hired private investigators, accountants, and me.”
Love is now said to be filing civil cases against the alleged wrongdoers (“former assistants, former managers, CPAs, lawyers, and a couple of banks” according to Holmes) within the next 30 days. “Courtney’s main interest is insuring that her daughter gets the assets back that were stolen,” Holmes told E!Online. “Courtney is pursuing her rights on the criminal end against the people who stole and her daughter and Kurt’s estate are focusing on the financial aspect.” Plaintiffs are also said to include Cobain’s mother, brother, and two sisters.
And to add insults (literally) to injury, a few musicians have been busy running their mouths off about Cobain’s life and legacy recently. Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan saved some time during his recent appearance on The Chris Isaak Hour TV show to share his opinion that Cobain “wasn’t necessarily the nicest person,” in addition to being sloppy seconds: “The night I threw Courtney Love out of my apartment is the night she famously walked down the street and ended up in his bed.”
Meanwhile, the Killers’ Brandon Flowers kept his put-downs simple by playing the “party pooper” card: “I don’t mean it in a bad way, but I think Kurt Cobain and grunge took the fun out of rock’n’roll,” he told UK tabloid Daily Star.
