Priscilla Presley Sues Ex-Associates for Elder Abuse, Financial Fraud

Priscilla Presley is accusing her former business associates of financial elder abuse.

Lawyers for Presley, 79, submitted a complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday, alleging that individuals behind an LLC created in her name “fraudulently” coerced her into “giving them power of attorney, control over her family and personal trusts, and control over her bank accounts” over a two-year period.

In the filing obtained by USA TODAY, Presley claims that the managers of Priscilla Presley Partners, LLC, collaborated with others to misappropriate more than $1 million of her funds. The actress, author, and ex-wife of Elvis Presley accuses her former associates, auction house founder Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, of conspiring 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,” according to the lawsuit.

The filing alleges that the defendants took control of Presley’s finances, “forcing her into a form of indentured servitude, where Plaintiff was forced to work so that they could receive the lion’s share of any revenue that she was able to earn in the future.”

Presley is asking the court to prohibit the defendants from accessing her finances and compel them to provide full documentation of payments. She is seeking $1 million in damages.

A lawyer for Kruse, when reached for comment, stated that they have not been served a copy of the filing. USA TODAY has reached out to Presley’s attorney and a contact for Fialko for additional comments.

Presley claims in her lawsuit that she ended her business relationship with Kruse in August 2023. By October 2023, Priscilla Presley Partners, LLC sued Presley in Florida for $50,000 in damages, alleging breach of contract. In the filing reviewed by USA TODAY on July 18, Kruse and Fialko claimed they agreed to manage Presley’s business and personal affairs in 2022, “despite the hardship that it imposed on their respective ongoing businesses.” The duo argued they saved Presley from dire financial circumstances by creating the company to “commercially exploit Presley’s name, image, and likeness (NIL).”

However, Presley allegedly breached their contract by excluding the LLC from business deals, including keeping Kruse and Fialko out of the “Priscilla” premiere at the Venice Film Festival and NBC’s “Christmas at Graceland” TV special, in August 2023, according to the lawsuit.

Presley’s complaint also references the Florida legal proceedings. Her filing states, “When it became clear to the defendants that their scheme had been uncovered, they attempted to falsely portray themselves as the victims by filing a lawsuit against Presley in Florida in the name of several of the sham companies they established, alleging that Presley breached the fraudulently-induced operating agreements for the entities defendants established and the sham, unenforceable name, image, and likeness license agreement, and that she breached fiduciary duties she allegedly owed to those entities.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Priscilla Presley sues former associates, alleging elder abuse and financial fraud.

Source: USA TODAY