Priscilla Presley blasts lawsuit claiming she pulled plug on Lisa Marie to gain control of Elvis’ estate
Priscilla Presley is at the center of a $50 million lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, accused by two former business partners of orchestrating a scheme involving fraud, deception, and the exploitation of her late daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.
In the complaint, Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko allege that the 80-year-old widow of Elvis Presley took calculated steps in the final hours of Lisa Marie’s life to regain control of the Presley estate—most notably by allegedly removing her daughter from life support in contradiction to Lisa Marie’s own medical directives.
According to court documents, Lisa Marie went into cardiac arrest on January 12, 2023, and was rushed to West Hills Hospital. The lawsuit claims that Priscilla, aware that Lisa Marie was in the process of removing her as trustee of a multimillion-dollar trust, acted quickly to terminate life support, despite her daughter’s explicit wish to prolong life.
The suit also accuses Priscilla of manipulating the public narrative after Lisa Marie’s death. Kruse and Fialko say she pressured them to release a carefully crafted public statement portraying herself as the grieving matriarch and rebranding her image as the “Queen” of Graceland. The complaint further claims this was part of a broader effort to consolidate control of Lisa Marie’s estate amid an impending legal battle with granddaughter Riley Keough.
Kruse and Fialko allege that they invested millions of dollars and years of work into revitalizing Priscilla’s brand after she approached them in 2021 while reportedly facing severe financial distress—including $700,000 in tax debt and overdue car payments. They claim they helped restructure her finances, settle lawsuits, and reestablish her public image, only to be pushed aside after securing a $2.4 million settlement for her in the estate dispute.
One major point of contention is Priscilla’s rights to her name, image, and likeness (NIL). The plaintiffs assert that she had already sold her NIL rights to Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2005 for $6.5 million—a fact she allegedly concealed while leveraging her image to attract new investments. When confronted, they say she denied the deal existed, then later claimed she had forgotten about it.
Their attorney, Jordan Matthews, stated: “The evidence will show that my clients are the real victims. They were betrayed after putting in the money, time, and effort to rebuild Priscilla’s brand.”
The lawsuit also names Keya Morgan, former manager of Marvel icon Stan Lee, accusing him of advising Presley to fabricate elder abuse allegations against Kruse and Fialko. The pair claim Morgan threatened them and took their seats at the Venice Film Festival premiere of Priscilla, a film they say they helped bring to fruition.
Priscilla previously filed her own lawsuit against Kruse and Fialko, alleging they isolated her from trusted advisors, took over her finances, and coerced her into signing over control of her name and likeness. A judge in that case remarked that, if her claims were true, it would constitute “classic elder abuse.”
Kruse and Fialko reject that characterization, arguing the elder abuse claim is a false narrative used to discredit them and erase their contractual rights.
They are now asking the court to bar Priscilla from profiting off her name outside the companies they co-founded and are seeking over $50 million in damages.
Meanwhile, Priscilla’s attorney, Marty Singer, dismissed the lawsuit as “shameful” and “salacious,” calling it a “malicious character assassination.”
“Accusing a grieving mother of contributing to her daughter’s death is not savvy advocacy—it’s disgusting,” Singer said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
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