Priscilla Presley’s former business partners accused her of withdrawing her daughter Lisa Marie Presley’s life-saving medication to get control of family name, a bombshell lawsuit alleges.
The 80-year-old former wife of Elvis Presley “ultimately wanted to control” her daughter’s trust and Graceland, according to the suit, obtained by The Independent. Priscilla Presley’s lawyer labeled the complaint as “malicious character assassination.”
Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, the heads of Priscilla Presley Partners, are suing her for breach of contract and fraud; they’re seeking at least $50 million.
Lisa Marie Presley was hospitalized in 2023 after suffering a cardiac arrest. She died in January 2023 at the age of 54.
Her mother was aware that she was preparing to remove her as the sole head of her trust and prematurely withdrew life-saving medical treatment in the hopes of gaining control of the sprawling estate, the suit alleges.
“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,” the filing says. “At her house the following week (before Lisa’s funeral), Priscilla exclaimed, ‘I’m the queen. I’m in charge of Graceland.’”
Lisa Marie was the sole heir to her father’s Memphis estate. Following her death, Priscilla filed a petition challenging a 2016 amendment to the trust, which had removed her as a trustee and instead designated two of Lisa Marie’s children — Riley Keough, an actress, and Benjamin Keough, who died in 2020 — as co-trustees, the Hollywood Reporter reported.
Mary Singer, Presley’s lawyer, slammed the lawsuit as “meritless” in a statement.
“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.”
“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,” Singer continued.
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The mother and daughter had a strained relationship, evidenced by Lisa Marie refusing to walk the red carpet or sit with her mother at the Golden Globes to celebrate the nominations for the 2022 “Elvis” movie, the lawsuit alleges. Around this time, Lisa Marie was “threatening to sue” Priscilla over the trust dispute.
Kruse and Fialko “worked to keep the family together” and, along with Presley’s publicist, ensured the pair sat together during the awards show, which occurred just two days Lisa Marie died, the suit says.
Authorities have not claimed any wrongdoing in Lisa Marie’s death. The LA County medical examiner’s autopsy report determined she had died from complications from surgery.
“The obstruction was in the form of a strangulated small bowel caused by adhesions that developed after bariatric surgery years ago,” the autopsy report said. “This is a known long-term complication of this type of surgery.”
Lisa Marie’s advanced care directive instructions said she wanted her “life to be prolonged as long as possible within the limits of generally accepted health care standards” — but Priscilla didn’t adhere to her wishes, the filing says.
Riley Keough was then made the sole trustee. Priscilla then challenged the amendment that had removed her as trustee in a matter that was settled five months later.
On behalf of Presley, Kruse and Fialko brokered a deal with Keough that gave the grandmother a $2.4 million payout and “a seven-figure deal for Priscilla’s son, Navarone,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
“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,” Jordan Matthews, an attorney for Kruse and Fialko, said in a statement.
This week’s complaint marks the latest in an ongoing legal battle between the former business partners.
In a 2023 lawsuit, Kruse alleged Priscilla abruptly “cut off all communication” after Kruse had helped Priscilla “dig herself out of impending financial ruin,” accused her of breach of contract and other wrongdoing, according to a filing obtained by Billboard.
Last July, Priscilla sued Kruse, Fialko and two other business partners, accusing them of elder abuse and fraud. The group “meticulously planned” a scheme to “to drain her of every last penny she had,” her lawyer alleged at the time.
