Priscilla Presley is being accused of creating a multimillion-dollar scheme involving fraud, cover-ups and the exploitation of her own daughter’s death.
In a $50 million lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Priscilla’s former business partners, Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, alleged the 80-year-old widow of Elvis Presley made a calculated move in the final hours of Lisa Marie’s life, accusing her of allegedly pulling her daughter off life support against her wishes.
Meanwhile, Priscilla’s high-profile attorney, Marty Singer, blasted the lawsuit as “shameful” and “salacious,” and told Fox News Digital the accusations are “malicious character assassination.”
“Accusing a grieving mother of contributing to her daughter’s death is not savvy advocacy – it’s disgusting,” Singer said.
PRISCILLA PRESLEY WISHES SHE ‘COULD HOLD’ LISA MARIE PRESLEY AGAIN 2 YEARS AFTER HER DEATH
According to a lawsuit obtained by Fox News Digital, Priscilla acted immediately after Lisa Marie went into cardiac arrest on Jan. 12, 2023.
“Within just over twenty-four hours, Lisa suffered cardiac arrest on Thursday, January 12th and she was rushed to West Hills Hospital,” the complaint alleges.
But instead of honoring Lisa Marie’s medical direction to “prolong her life,” the lawsuit claimed Priscilla saw a window to regain control of the Presley estate, especially with Lisa Marie reportedly in the process of removing her as trustee of a multimillion-dollar trust.
“Priscilla rushed to West Hills Hospital, and despite Lisa’s clear directive to ‘prolong her life,’ Priscilla pulled the plug within hours of Lisa being admitted,” the lawsuit stated, adding that Riley Keough, Lisa Marie’s daughter and heir, had not yet arrived.
The lawsuit further alleged that Priscilla wasted no time taking command of the media response. According to the filing, she pressured Kruse to issue a carefully worded statement soon after Lisa Marie’s passing – Kruse and Fialko claim the rapid-fire statement was part of a calculated effort to recast Presley as the grieving family figurehead and consolidate power amid looming estate battles.
“It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,” her statement read.
She has also been accused of instructing Kruse and Fialko to push press messaging that rebranded her as the “Queen” of Graceland.
This allegation is one of several explosive claims in the $50 million lawsuit that accuses Priscilla of fraud, breach of contract and reputation destruction, including allegedly exploiting her daughter’s death for personal and financial gain.
Kruse and Fialko claimed Priscilla had sold the rights to her own name, image and likeness (NIL) two decades ago – and “forgot” to mention it.
Their lawyer, Jordan Matthews, said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital that 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.”
Kruse and Fialko alleged that Priscilla first reached out to them in 2021 while drowning in debt – owing nearly $700,000 in taxes and reportedly behind on car payments. They claimed they spent thousands of hours – and millions in funding – revitalizing her brand, brokering deals and restructuring her finances.
But behind the scenes, the lawsuit stated, Presley had already offloaded her NIL rights to Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2005 for $6.5 million – a deal she kept secret while leveraging her image to lure investments.
The lawsuit stated that when confronted about the previous agreement, Priscilla repeatedly denied making it and later said she had forgotten about it when confronted with evidence of it.
Kruse and Fialko also said they negotiated a $2.4 million payout for Priscilla in a high-stakes legal standoff with granddaughter Keough over the estate. They also claimed Priscilla cut them off, trashed their reputations and filed a retaliatory elder abuse lawsuit.
“Elder abuse is a very serious problem in our society,” attorney Matthews said.
“Our complaint alleges that Priscilla targeted Kruse and Fialko from day one, when she was in dire financial need, faced with mounting IRS debt and multiple lawsuits, even within her own family. The complaint alleges that Priscilla’s relationship with her daughter was in ruins for decades and long before Kruse and Fialko were involved.”
He added, “Kruse and Fialko invested seven figures into rebuilding Priscilla’s brand, stabilizing her finances, settling her lawsuits, cleaning up numerous private family ordeals, and attempting to help Priscilla repair her relationship with her daughter. Priscilla has, in turn, smeared Kruse and Fialko with false lies and malicious campaigns.”
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Also named in the lawsuit was Keya Morgan, the controversial former manager of Marvel icon Stan Lee, previously charged with elder abuse. Kruse and Fialko accused Morgan of coaching Priscilla to make false abuse claims, threatening them directly and taking their seats at the Venice Film Festival premiere of “Priscilla” – a film they claimed they helped bring to life.
Priscilla’s own lawsuit against her former business partners, filed last year, painted a very different picture.
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She claimed Kruse and Fialko isolated her from longtime advisors, took over her bank accounts and tricked her into signing 20-plus contracts in under 30 minutes – including ones that gave them majority control over her own name and likeness.
“If plaintiff’s allegations are true… it’s classic elder abuse,” one judge ruled in an earlier case.
But Kruse and Fialko argued the elder abuse narrative is a lie, a legal weapon used by Priscilla and Morgan to silence and erase their contractual claims. They want the court to order Presley to stop profiting off her NIL outside the companies they formed – and pay more than $50 million in damages.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
