The two page blackmail letter that Yoko Ono's driver, Koral Karsan, wrote in hopes of receiving $2M from her, was released yesterday. Karsan's lawyer, Robert Gottlieb, filed it with Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Daniel FitzGerald.
In the letter, Karsan accused Ono of sexually harrassing him, and vowed to call Sean Lennon (along with his ex, Bijou Phillips), "Paul", and Rolling Stone's Jann Wenner to testify on his behalf. He also wrote down that Sean Lennon called his father "a wife beating asshole." (In the past Sean Lennon has talked about his father's temper openly, stating, "He definitely had a violent temper. He would get angry sometimes. And when he did, that voice that was soothing would become like a knife.")
Gottlieb said the letter was a request written in order to avoid filing a sexual harassment claim. The letter almost made us feel bad for Karsan ("My wife has now left me because of the relationship between you and me. This is solely due to your excessive demands on my time, demanding my companionship for over 15 hours daily, seven days a week for the last six years.") until we read:
"Such a trial, regardless of if I win or lose, will provide me with a significant amount of publicity that I will use to promote a number of books that will portray You, Sean and John. These books will be written using information obtained from ten years of listening to you as well as pictures taken with hidden cameras and literally thousands of hours of recordings I have been compiling since 1996. Within these tapes, there are recordings such as the ones below that will quite frankly, astound the world."
This paragraph makes it sound much more plotted (why start secretly recording your new employer when you first start a new job?), and Yoko's been through enough to now have to deal with some crazy, vindictive employee. The entire letter, after the jump.
In other Beatles news: The original handwritten lyrics for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" go to auction today and are expected to sell for $780,000. The page also features the words "The band leader said he ain't playin' no more." In 1987, Lennon's original handwritten copy of the lyrical letter "Dear Prudence" was auctioned off for $19,500.
Dear Ms. Ono,
As you know, I have loyally served you in many capacities as your driver, bodyguard, assistant, butler, nurse, handyman and more so your lover and confidant over the last ten years. During the course of these years, our relationship has also deepened into a very emotional and physical one as well.
Unfortunately, as you know, your mood swings and dependencies have drastically eroded our relationship, and led to a continual stream of abusive statements and treatment from you. Ranging from personal insults to demanding acts of great sacrifice by me, your systematic and continuous physical and psychological abuse has caused me to become a different person, stripped from any kind of dignity and self respect.
Your constant demands on my time, for both your and your family's professional and personal needs have greatly and perhaps irrevocably hurt my relationship with my spouse and children. My wife has now left me because of the relationship between you and me. This is solely due to your excessive demands on my time, demanding my companionship for over 15 hours daily, seven days a week for the last six years. My life has been connected to yours to a point where basic chores and activities such as taking my wife to the doctor's office or having an engagement party for my son had to wait for months on end for you to leave the country so that I could attend the needs of my family.
Additionally, our relationship both in the public eye and private has caused a significant degree of defamation to my character. People, including your own son and daughter have voiced their opinions regarding our relationship. Every day I endure countless demeaning looks and comments from people at work, on the street and most painfully at home. This continues and will continue to cause indescribable pain for me and more importantly my family.
Under all these circumstances, I decided to contact my lawyer in order to put an end to this string of events. After discussions, we decided to pursue a "quid pro quo" sexual harassment suit against you. There is more than enough documented instances in which you harassed me in this manner and I've been advised that the case will be more than easy to file and prove. The case will not only involve you and I, but will also include Sean, Kyoko, Bijoux, Jan Wenner, Michiko Meyers, Sam Havatoy, Dakota residents, Paul and countless others as they will be forced to testify about things that will shock the world. I will make sure that upon filing of the suit, the NY media (members of which I have gotten to know very well over the years) will be all over it and we will all read the details on page six and other tabloid magazines for quite a while.
Such a trial, regardless of if I win or lose, will provide me with a significant amount of publicity that I will use to promote a number of books that will portray You, Sean and John. These books will be written using information obtained from ten years of listening to you as well as pictures taken with hidden cameras and literally thousands of hours of recordings I have been compiling since 1996. Within these tapes, there are recordings such as the ones below that will quite frankly, astound the world.
• Sean, while speaking to his girlfriend Carmella, calling John "a wife beating a------";
• Your political statements against the British and US Governments;
• Your numerous critical comments about your son, daughter, the Beatles, and your friends (such as Jan Wenner, J. Onasis Kenedy, Elliot Mintz, Brian Hendel, John Hendrics, Michiko Meyers and many more);
• The story of you getting raped during WW II in a Japanese farm and the effects of this act on your relationships with men including John;
• Your numerous fights with Sam Havatoy ...
Depending on the outcome of our dealings, I will not only write about these recordings but will also distribute them to European Broadcasting Stations throughout the future. You and your legal advisors may think that I am bound by the confidentiality agreement. Be informed that I am moving back to Turkey permanently and will publish my book in Turkey and will distribute the prints through the internet where I have already secured e-commerce capabilities.
All of the above mentioned items will in fact become a reality unless you compensate me and my family for all of the pain and suffering you have caused. If you want all of these pictures, recordings, emails, conversations and memories to vanish from the face of the earth and never hear from me again, all you have to do is send me a certified cashiers check from a New York Bank for a total amount of $2 million.
Thank you very much,
Koral Karsan





what a jerk.
Something tells me Yoko is a little too smart, saavy, and generally suspicious to start doing the married help. Maybe the reason this guy's wife left him is that he's nuts.
wow. all the abuse and he was forced to stay employed with her. i actually feel sorry for yoko.
Actually, I think its interesting he stayed employed with her for so long if he was a nut.
There probably is some truth to his statement, I doubt anybody would have someone imagining a whole sexualized relationship around for 15 years unless there was some truth to it.
The whole wife leaving him, and mentioning about missing his family's milestones sounds kinda mental breakdown, so im not sure i buy her responsibility for that.
But his claims in the beginning don't seem to far fetched...I know plenty of smart people who sleep with the married help, lol.
this jerk was being paid so well to be her chaffeur (what, over a 100k a year?), and he's complaining? Does he really think it's going to sully Yoko's reputation by his revealing that she has been raped and possibly physically abused by John Lennon? um, i don't know what parallel universe he's living in, but I would think the public would empathize with Yoko. She's been through A LOT, and whatever your feelings on her, she deserves to live her life with dignity. This guy needs to be put under the jail.
-Love,
A HUGE Yoko Ono fan
I can believe that Yoko is eccentric, possessive, and demanding toward her employees (though, after all, they probably knew that from the start and they're well paid for it). I'll even admit that she's capable of having an affair with a married man; she and John Lennon were both still married when they hooked up.
But Korsal loses me with the information he threatens to reveal. Yoko is hardly the first person to be critical about the government, her friends, and her family. As for Sean's supposed comment, it's no different from what John said himself, multiple times.
And if Yoko really was raped, and trusted Korsan enough to confide in him about it, he's an absolute jerk for threatening her with it, and she's all the more worthy of respect for her resilience.
Did she force him at gun point to have an affair w/her? He was a married man before getting into this, apparently. Oh boo-hoo, I can't take my wife to the doctor. Well f-ing around on her in the 1st place shows where your opportunist proirities already lie, Jerk.
he is moving to turkey? thats interesting.
I used to know this man, actually. For two years-before he started to work for Yoko, that is- he worked under my employ at a large botanical warehouse in upstate New York. Interestingly, he was fired for installing secret cameras, and then avoided being sued in an out-of-court settlement. The strange thing was, the only thing he was spying on was a room full of semi-rare varieties of African violets. I guess he never learned his lesson, and now he's been making secret videos of Yoko for ten years or so. Frightening.