PRISCILLA Presley has been accused of intentionally pulling the plug on her daughter Lisa Marie in a bombshell lawsuit.
Elvis’ ex-wife blasted the stunning allegations as “malicious character assassination” after her former business partners demanded a $50 million payout.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday in Los Angeles by Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko over work that they did to promote Priscilla’s brand.
It came one year after the King’s ex-wife filed her own suit against the pair and accused them of draining her bank accounts as they took advantage of her age.
The her lawsuit, Priscilla said the pair devised a scheme to “prey on an older woman 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), while their real goal was to drain her of every last penny she had.”
Now, Kruse and Fialko are trying to prove that they are the real victims of the story, as they accuse Priscilla of hiding key information throughout their business relationship.
Kruse is a well-known auctioneer, and Fialko is a successful entrepreneur. They both have worked with Elvis memorabilia, according to the lawsuit seen by the Associated Press.
In 2021, Priscilla approached them for help for advice on how to brand herself while facing financial ruin, the lawsuit claims.
Kruse and Fialko say they poured thousands of hours plotting creative marketing schemes and founding companies that use Priscilla’s name and likeness to generate cash.
However, while they were conducting this work, they claim that Presley hid from them that she had sold the rights to license her name in a $6.5 million deal with Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2005.
At one point in the lawsuit, the scorned business partners claimed that the matriarch “pulled the plug” on her daughter Lisa Marie to take control of their family name.
They claim that Priscilla did so out of fears that Lisa Marie was going to remove her from the family’s trust and rights to the iconic Graceland mansion.
Priscilla Presley’s tears over family ‘feud’
Lisa Marie was rushed to the hospital in January 2023 after going into cardiac arrest and died hours later at just 53 years old.
Her cause of death was deemed natural and stemmed from complications over a complex surgery.
According to the business partners, Priscilla feared that Lisa Marie could remove her name from her daughter’s life insurance trust.
They claimed the grandmother “ultimately wanted to control the Promenade Trust and Graceland.”
The lawsuit went on to claim that just one week after Lisa Marie’s death, ” Priscilla allegedly claimed, ‘I’m the queen. I’m in charge of Graceland.’”
Priscilla’s lawyer Marty Singer blasted the claims and said they are confident the suit will be promptly thrown out of court.
“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 told the New York Post.
“These fabricated claims have absolutely no validity and we are confident this case will be dismissed.”
What is Elvis Presley’s Graceland?
Elvis crafted some of his most famous hits at Graceland, including Blue Christmas and All Shook Up. Here’s everything you need to know.
Graceland is located at 3763 Elvis Presley Blvd in Memphis, Tennessee.
It was constructed in 1939 by Ruth Brown Moore and her husband Thomas D. Moore, who named the property Graceland after Ruth’s aunt Grace who originally owned the land.
Elvis purchased the property in 1957 and immediately moved in with his young family — wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie Presley.
Elvis’ father, Vernon Presley, took over the trust managing Graceland along with the property itself after Elvis died in 1977, per directions in the star’s will.
The family decided to turn Graceland into a museum and tribute to the King of Rock & Roll, which opened in 1982.
Ownership of Graceland transferred to Lisa Marie when she turned 25 in 1993.
Graceland again changed ownership when Lisa Marie died suddenly in 2023.
Elvis’ granddaughter Riley Keough took procession of the estate after her mother’s death.
FAMILY DRAMA
After Lisa Marie’s death, Priscilla and her granddaughter Riley Keough fought a lengthy legal battle over the family estate.
Kruse and Fialko say they helped to broker a deal over the trust that would have secured Priscilla a $2.4 million payout.
However, they claim that Priscilla suddenly cut them off after they did the work and publicly smeared the pair before filing her lawsuit.
Meanwhile, in her suit, Elvis’ ex-wife said that she was tricked into investing in sham companies and was forced into “a form of indentured servitude.”
Keough, who is a 36-year-old actress, was ultimately named sole trustee after months of back and forth with her grandmother.
Despite the dramatic court proceedings, Priscilla claims that the family is still on good terms.
“Riley is now the executor, which should be right, obviously, being her daughter,” Priscilla told The Hollywood Reporter in August 2023.
“Riley and I are on good terms. We were never not on good terms. That was all publicity.”
