Priscilla Presley faces $50M lawsuit from ex-business partners
Priscilla Presley is being sued for fraud and breach of contract by ex-business partners who claim she sold her name and likeness rights decades ago.
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Priscilla Presley‘s lawyers are stepping in to address “outrageous” allegations her former business associates recently made about her family in court.
In an amended complaint that was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Dec. 16 and obtained by USA TODAY on Dec. 17, Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko alleged they “were on call 24/7 and were never paid for any of their services” by Presley’s son, Navarone Garibaldi Garcia. They also claimed he’d severed their working relationship with Presley.
In their 65-page lawsuit, Kruse and Fialko detailed the ways they’d allegedly managed Garcia’s personal and business dealings, writing, “Immediately after Lisa Marie’s death, the entire Presley family clamored for control of the estate and for pay-outs, using Plaintiffs Kruse and Fialko as both negotiators and mediators.”
In the midst of this, Kruse claimed, Lisa Marie’s fourth husband Michael Lockwood told her his family was “financially destitute” and that in 2010 he’d “orchestrated a deal” for stepdaughter Riley Keough donate her eggs to John Travolta and the late Kelly Preston – who gave birth to their youngest son, Ben – in exchange for money and “an old Jaguar.”
In a statement to TMZ, Marty Singer and Wayne Harman – lawyers who represent both Priscilla Presley and her son – accused Kruse and Fialko of causing undue “pain to Priscilla Presley and her family.”
“After losing motion after motion in this case, and unsuccessfully seeking to have Presley’s counsel of record, Marty Singer, disqualified from representing her in this matter, Brigitte Kruse, Kevin Fialko, and their co-conspirators have demonstrated that there is no bar too low, no ethical line that they are unwilling to cross in an effort to cause further pain to Priscilla Presley and her family,” the attorneys said.
“In a completely improper effort to exert undue pressure on Presley to retract her legitimate, truthful claims, Kruse and her co-conspirators have also sued Presley’s son, cousin, and assistant,” the statement continued. “These recent outrageous allegations have absolutely nothing to do with the claims in this case. The conduct of Kruse, Fialko, and their new lawyers (they are on their fourth set of attorneys) is shameful, and it absolutely will be addressed in court.”
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Presley, Keough and Travolta for comment.
Kruse and Fialko have been in a legal battle with Priscilla Presley for over a year. In August 2024, Presley sued the duo for $1 million in damages for alleged financial elder abuse.
The following month, Fialko and Kruse sued Presley for allegedly breaching their business contracts and, in their $50 million legal complaint, dropped various bold accusations about the Presley family’s private relationships.