Priscilla Presley Sued for $50 Million Amid Power Struggle Over Graceland Business Empire
Priscilla Presley has been sued by her former business partners, who accuse her of fraud and breach of contract for leaving them on the hook for massive damages after she falsely claimed ownership of her last name and brand despite secretly selling those rights decades ago. They claim she failed to disclose the sale while securing lucrative investments, leaving their business in ruin.
In a lawsuit filed in California state court on Wednesday, Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, the heads of Priscilla Presley Partners, say they were caught in the crosshairs of a behind-the-scenes power struggle over the family trust. They seek at least $50 million.
Lisa Marie Presley was hospitalized in 2023 after suffering a cardiac arrest. The lawsuit says that Priscilla Presley — aware that her daughter was preparing to remove her as the sole head of her trust — prematurely withdrew life-saving medical treatment, with the aim of gaining control of the estate.
“Priscilla knew that Lisa’s death neutralized the threat of Lisa’s efforts to have Priscilla removed as the sole trustee of Lisa’s irrevocable life insurance trust, and Priscilla ultimately wanted to control the Promenade Trust and Graceland,” states the complaint. “At her house the following week (before Lisa’s funeral), Priscilla exclaimed, ‘I’m the queen. I’m in charge of Graceland.’”
In a statement, Marty Singer, a lawyer for Priscilla Presley, denied the allegations and stressed that his client is “the victim of a concerted effort by Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko (among others) to isolate her from her trusted advisors and dupe her into signing a series of agreements in which Kruse contends she gave them a majority interest in Presley’s own name, image, and likeness, in perpetuity.”
“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,” he added.
Last year, Priscilla Presley sued Kruse for fraud and elder abuse for allegedly taking over $120,000 in commissions from a deal relating to Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla.
The singer and only child of Elvis Presley was the sole heir to her father’s sprawling estate. Following her death, Priscilla Presley filed a petition challenging a 2016 amendment to the trust that removed her and the family former business manager, Barry Siegel, as trustees while designating Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter Riley Keough and deceased son Benjamin Keough as co-trustees.
The lawsuit says that Kruse and Fialko ultimately brokered a deal to end the dispute that involved a $2.4 million payment to Priscilla Presley.
Following the settlement, Priscilla Presley was allegedly contacted by Keya Morgan, Stan Lee’s former business manager who was accused and later acquitted on charges of elder abuse against the comic book legend, according to the complaint. He claimed in discussions with Kruse and Fialko that he could get her name, image and likeness rights back from Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages Elvis Presley’s intellectual property.
The relationship turned sour when Morgan, alongside Priscilla Presley, accused Kruse and Fialko of coercion and elder abuse, among other things, the lawsuit said. Priscilla Presley later cut ties with Priscilla Presley Partners and undermined the company’s ventures by exploiting her name, image and likeness rights on her own, including on high-profile appearances on NBC’s Christmas at Graceland, comic conventions and promotional events, without disclosing or sharing the proceeds. The lawsuit alleges that she also stole funds from the firm’s bank accounts.
Around this time, Priscilla was set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival. Kruse and Fialko, who brokered additional compensation for Priscilla Presley from A24 Pictures, were disinvited from the premiere, with Morgan going in their stead.
“As detailed video recordings and communications already confirm, there is absolutely no evidence of undue influence, coercion, or elder abuse involved, only a legitimate, well-documented business partnership,” said Jordan Matthews, a lawyer for Kruse and Fialko, in a statement. “The evidence will establish that the real victims here are my clients, who invested millions and years of hard work into revitalizing Priscilla Presley’s brand, only to be betrayed and falsely accused once the money was on the table and every personal and business issue had been resolved.”
In a precursor to Wednesday’s lawsuit, Priscilla Presley Partners claimed in a breach of contract lawsuit filed last year that it had helped broker a deal for the A24 movie adaptation of Presley’s memoir.
At the time, Singer denied the allegations and accused Kruse and Fialko of “misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars.” The alleged theft related to allegations that Kruse attempted to sell Presley’s home to herself. In a declaration to the court, Kruse said that she was directed to do so as co-trustee of Presley’s trust.
Read Singer’s full statement below:
This is, without a doubt, one of the most shameful, ridiculous, salacious, and meritless lawsuits I have seen in my practice. 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 bringing a lawsuit to redress the wrongful conduct of Brigitte Kruse, Kevin Fialko, and their co-conspirators. Kruse and her co-conspirators are now on their fourth different set of lawyers in this dispute, and this is a disgusting publicity stunt by new counsel, as evidenced by the fact that the complaint and press release were sent to the press before the complaint was served. 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.
Our client, Priscilla Presley filed a complaint over a year ago in which she alleges that she was the victim of a concerted effort by Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko (among others) to isolate her from her trusted advisors and dupe her into signing a series of agreements in which Kruse contends she gave them a majority interest in Presley’s own name, image, and likeness, in perpetuity, and that purportedly required Presley to get their permission before even accepting any offer of employment or otherwise. She alleges that she was pressured into signing over 20 different agreements in a 27 minute session at Kruse’s house, which agreements Presley had never even seen before. Presley contends that Kruse even tried to demand that Presley give up her cell phone and have all communication go through Kruse. Presley alleges, for example, the following:
In an order on one of a series of motions that Kruse filed (and lost, one after the other) in a desperate effort to avoid facing responsibility for her actions, the Court found that, “if plaintiff’s allegations are true…it is classic elder abuse.” After suffering a series of defeats in lawsuits in both California and Florida, Kruse and her co-conspirators are desperately and transparently employing the strategy of “the best defense is a good offense.” It will not work. It is also evident that Kruse, Fialko and her new 4th set of attorneys are not happy with the rulings this past year by the judge handling the existing case against Kruse and Fialko by going forum shopping to try and go before a different judge.
Riley Keough, Presley’s granddaughter (and the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley) stands behind her grandmother 100% and is equally disgusted with this latest, vicious attempt by Kruse to attempt to ruin her grandmother’s life.
