NEED TO KNOW
\nPriscilla Presley’s lawyer claims a new lawsuit by her former business partners is a “sad and vicious attempt to falsely tarnish the reputation of an eighty year old woman”Her former business partners claimed in the suit that Priscilla ignored her daughter Lisa Marie Presley’s health concerns in an alleged plan to get control of the Elvis Presley estatePriscilla’s lawyer said her granddaughter, Riley Keough, “stands behind her grandmother 100% and is equally disgusted”<\/p>\n
Priscilla Presley<\/a>\u2019s lawyer is denying allegations in a new $50 million civil lawsuit filed against her that accuses her of leading her only daughter, Lisa Marie Presley<\/a>, to an early death in an alleged plot to regain control of the Elvis Presley estate.\n<\/p>\n In the lawsuit, filed by Priscilla\u2019s former business partners, Brigitte Kruse<\/a> and Kevin Fialko, on Aug. 11 in California Superior Court, claims that Priscilla, 80, schemed to “defraud” her business partners, “destroy reputations with unsubstantiated claims” and “exploit” Lisa Marie’s death to “regain control over Elvis Presley\u2019s legacy and assets.”\n<\/p>\n The plaintiffs claim Priscilla ignored Lisa Marie\u2019s health concerns at the Golden Globes in January 2023<\/a>. Days later, Lisa Marie suffered a cardiac arrest<\/a> and died. She was 54.\n<\/p>\n \u201cPriscilla, who knew that Lisa was in the process of taking steps to remove her as the sole trustee of Lisa\u2019s irrevocable life insurance trust, saw an opportunity to regain control,\u201d the lawsuit alleges. Priscilla rushed to the hospital, where she allegedly \u201cpulled the plug\u201d before Lisa Marie\u2019s daughter, Riley Keough, could arrive, despite Lisa Marie\u2019s \u201cclear directive to \u2018prolong her life,\u2019 \u201d the lawsuit claims.\n<\/p>\n Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley in 2008.<\/p>\n Steve Granitz\/WireImage<\/p>\n The plaintiffs allege that Priscilla \u201cknew that Lisa\u2019s death neutralized the threat of Lisa\u2019s efforts to have Priscilla removed as the sole trustee of Lisa\u2019s irrevocable life insurance trust,\u201d and that she \u201cultimately\u201d wanted control of Graceland.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Kruse and Fialko later claim they negotiated a deal with Keough after Priscilla filed a challenge to the trust Lisa Marie created to protect her assets and inheritance from Elvis\u2019 estate. They also say they made deals for Priscilla\u2019s son, Navarone Garcia<\/a>, Lisa Marie\u2019s twin daughters Harper and Finley Lockwood<\/a>, and Harper and Finley\u2019s father, Michael Lockwood<\/a>.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n The lawsuit also names Keya Morgan as a defendant. The plaintiffs say Morgan contacted Kruse in June 2023, claiming to be Priscilla\u2019s \u201cfriend\u201d and \u201cfalsely claimed that he was an attorney.\u201d Later, Priscilla began cutting off contact with Kruse and Fialko, they allege, adding that they were \u201cdisinvited\u201d from attending the November 2023 Venice premiere of Priscilla<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n In response to the lawsuit, Priscilla\u2019s lawyer, Marty Singer, called it \u201cone of the most shameful, ridiculous, salacious, and meritless lawsuits I have seen in my practice,\u201d adding that it is \u201cnothing 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.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Singer added that Keough, 36, \u201cstands behind her grandmother 100% and is equally disgusted with this latest, vicious attempt by Kruse to attempt to ruin her grandmother\u2019s life.\u201d (In August 2023, Keough became the sole heir of Lisa Marie’s trust<\/a> and will oversee the sub-trusts for her sisters Harper and Finley, both 16.)\n<\/p>\n Elvis Presley with Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie in 1968.<\/p>\n Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty<\/p>\n In July 2024, Priscilla claimed she was a victim of elder abuse<\/a> and had $1 million stolen from her. The lawsuit named Kruse, Fialko and others, alleging that they controlled her finances and forced her into a “form of indentured servitude” by “gaining her trust, isolating her from the most important people in her life, and duping her into believing that they would take care of her (personally and financially).”\n<\/p>\n Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.\n<\/p>\n Kruse\u2019s legal team later called the lawsuit \u201cretaliatory\u201d<\/a> to a September 2023 lawsuit Kruse filed for alleged breach of contract, a claim Singer rejected<\/a>.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n In the new lawsuit, Kruse and Fialko are seeking at least $50 million in damages and demand a jury trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW Priscilla Presley’s lawyer claims a new lawsuit by her former business partners is a “sad…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[49,48,361,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-68207","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}