A bitter legal battle between Priscilla Presley and two of her former business partners has grown even more acrimonious in the wake of a new lawsuit.
In a complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court and reviewed by Entertainment Weekly, plaintiffs Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, the heads of Priscilla Presley Partners, allege that the widow of rock icon Elvis Presley “pulled the plug” on her own daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, within hours of her being admitted to the hospital, as part of a scheme to regain control of Elvis’ estate, “control the narrative,” and defraud her business partners.
The complaint further accuses Priscilla and an associate of making false allegations of elder abuse against Kruse and Fialko to ruin their reputations. The plaintiffs are seeking more than $50 million in damages.
In a statement provided to EW on Wednesday, Priscilla’s attorney Martin D. Singer blasted the suit as “one of the most shameful, ridiculous, salacious, and meritless lawsuits I have seen in my practice.” He added, “This is nothing more than a sad and vicious attempt to falsely tarnish the reputation of an eighty year old woman in blatant retaliation” for a suit Priscilla previously brought against Kruse and Fialko.
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Lisa Marie Presley and Priscilla Presley in Memphis in 2022
Singer also claimed that Lisa Marie’s eldest child, the actress Riley Keough, “stands behind her grandmother 100 percent” and is “disgusted” by the allegations contained in Kruse and Fialko’s suit. (Representatives for Keough didn’t immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.)
Kruse and Fialko’s attorney Jordan Matthews claimed in a statement provided to EW that his clients are in possession of “video recordings and communications” which “confirm [that] there is absolutely no evidence of undue influence, coercion, or elder abuse involved, only a legitimate, well-documented business partnership,” and that his clients are the “real victims.”
The legal battle between Priscilla Presley, Kruse, and Fialko began in October 2023 when Kruse filed a breach of contract suit alleging that Presley sent the GWS Auctions founder and her business associate a cease-and-desist, abruptly cutting off a business partnership Presley brokered the year prior. Kruse claimed that Presley sought help developing her name and likeness rights as a bulwark against mounting debt. Presley’s former partners alleged that their efforts resulted, among other things, in the 2023 biopic Priscilla, but they received no credit on the Golden Globe-nominated film.
Presley subsequently sued Kruse and Fialko, alleging that the pair, their Priscilla Presley Partners venture (over which they maintained a controlling stake), and additional partners Vahe Sislyan and Lynn Walker Wright sought to wrest complete control of Presley’s finances by forcing her into “a form of indentured servitude.” The suit claimed that Presley had signed away 80 percent of her income to Kruse and Fialko.
Matthews said in a statement Wednesday that “Elder abuse is a very serious problem in our society,” and that Presley’s claim of indentured servitude “unfortunately undermines the important work of the Civil Rights movement.”
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Singer said in his statement, “Accusing a grieving mother of contributing to her daughter’s death is not savvy advocacy; it is malicious character assassination, and should be broadly condemned. These fabricated claims have absolutely no validity and we are confident this case will be dismissed.”
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Brigitte Kruse and Priscilla Presley in Orlando in 2023
Lisa Marie Presley died Jan. 12, 2023, from a small bowel obstruction, a complication resulting from a past bariatric surgery. She was 54.
Priscilla shortly thereafter filed a motion to contest her daughter’s will, which had been amended in 2016 to name Keough and her brother Benjamin as co-trustees, replacing Priscilla and her former business manager, Barry Siegel. Grandmother and granddaughter reached an undisclosed settlement later that year. (Benjamin Keough died in 2020.)
“Riley is now the executor, which should be right, obviously, being her daughter,” Priscilla Presley stated after settling with her granddaughter. “Riley and I are on good terms. We were never not on good terms. That was all publicity.”
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