Dane Cook’s Brother Took Him for Everything He Had
“I always wanted a scandal,” Kevin Nealon told Dane Cook on an episode of Hiking With Kevin.
But Cook, the comedian who actually endured one (or two or three) scandals, doesn’t make them sound so great. While tromping through the hills of California, Cook told Nealon about the brother who nearly wiped him out.
Cook’s brother, an accountant, was the trusted family member handling the financials for the comedian’s business. Instead, “he wasn’t really managing my business so much he was just taking my business for himself,” Cook said. He ripped off not just “a lot of money,” as Nealon speculated, but pretty much everything Cook had.
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The comedian only found out because he was making the move from the East Coast to Los Angeles in 2008, right at the height of his career. (Don’t forget — Cook was selling out Madison Square Garden and releasing platinum comedy albums at the time.) He bought a house in California and needed to move his business from Massachusetts. “Long story short, (my brother) wasn’t having that,” Cook said. “A lot of push-back.”
Cook figured that the logistics of moving the business accounts to a new state must be a huge hassle so he enlisted his attorneys to help with the switch. “I thought I was helping him,” the comic said. Instead, it quickly came to light that Cook’s brother and his wife had swiped about 12 million bucks, according to Boston.com.
Where’s your brother now, Nealon wondered. Cook said he had no idea: “He served his time. He got eight years. His wife got many years too.”
Despite the double-cross, Cook seems remarkably at peace, both with the family-on-family crime and the loss of his millions. “When I got past the initial betrayal and shock, I felt like I was starting the stretch of an amazingly wonderful time of my life,” he told Nealon. “Because now, this weird negative force was gone. That next couple of years was truly me feeling like I'm doing this all on my own.”
“Did you feel guilty that he was in prison?” wondered Nealon.
“No,” was Cook’s quick response, punctuated with a laugh. He also responded in the negative when Nealon asked if his brother ever apologized.
“Jesus,” said Nealon, shaking his head.
No wonder Cook is no longer in contact with him. Nealon asked if the brother was still an accountant, and Cook said he had no idea.
Note to anyone out there looking for a new tax guy: If you’re considering Dane Cook’s ex-con brother, you might want to keep looking.
