According to a report in The New York Post, bank accounts using the social security numbers of Cobain, his widow Courtney Love and their daughter Frances Bean were allegedly used to buy and sell real estate in the United States.

"There is now a web of homes which were bought, flipped and used to launder money - up to $US500 million worth," Love's lawyer Rhonda J. Holmes said.

"Any of the property we can get back will be donated to people who have lost their homes in foreclosures."

The Courier Mail reported that investigators, forensic accountants and lawyers hired by Love found that the Nirvana singer's estate had lost more than $45 million cash and up to $705 million in real estate.

"I have never seen such greed and moral turpitude. This case is going to make Bernard Madoff look warm and fuzzy," Ms Holmes said.

"We've only been able to track down $US30 million, but there is more. And then there is the real estate."

Ms Holmes said that Love only noticed the money was gone when there wasn't any left.

Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of hit nineties grunge band Nirvana, was found dead in his home in 1994.