Courtney Love Seeks to Reclaim "Looted" Kurt Cobain Fortune

Courtney Love plans to file a lawsuit within the next month in an effort to recoup the millions of dollars "looted" from her late husband' Kurt Cobain's estate, E! reports. The suit will be filed on behalf of Courtney and Frances Bean Cobain, and targets the "former assistants, former managers, CPAs, lawyers and a couple of banks" who Love says bilked roughly $30 million in cash and another $500 million in false real estate ventures from Cobain's fortune. Cobain's mother and siblings are also listed as plaintiffs. The Nirvana singer-guitarist was discovered dead in his Washington home this week 15 years ago.

"Courtney's main interest is ensuring that her daughter gets the assets back that were stolen," San Diego attorney Rhonda Holmes told E!. Holmes alleges that many of the people named in the lawsuit took advantage of Love's blasé monitoring of Cobain's estate — fortunately, approximately 100 boxes of the rocker's personal belongings are safely locked away in an undisclosed storage facility, biographer Charles Cross told Rolling Stone (see a gallery of Kurt's archives here). According to Holmes, one scheme included real estate being purchased with Kurt, Courtney or Frances' social security numbers and faked power of attorney forms, with the name on the purchase slightly altered.

"They would sell a piece of property to a related entity, to someone they know, and they would keep selling to make a profit," Holmes said of the scam. "There are now Kurts and Courtneys and Franceses spelled different ways that allegedly own properties all over the country that were bought by Kurt's assets." Not only is Love seeking to reclaim the money, she's also pursuing criminal charges, working with prosecutors to find the perpetrators. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," Holmes said of the legal battle ahead.

This isn't the first time Love has informed the press she was robbed by former associates. In 2005 she told the U.K.'s Times that $20 million was nabbed by a former boyfriend and two assistants. In March 2008, the New York Post reported that Love left hysterical phone calls to inform them that Cobain's social security number had been stolen by con artists who were racking up real estate purchases on his name — a situation that evidently led to the most recent legal action. In June 2008, Love reportedly said her late husband's ashes had been stolen from her L.A. home, as well.

Related Stories:

• "Cobain Unseen": Rare Photos, Artwork and Journal Entries
• New Book Reveals the Private Life of Kurt Cobain
• No More Unreleased Nirvana Songs, Krist Novoselic Says

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

More Song Stories entries »

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