Priscilla Presley’s Ex-Business Partners Claim She’s On Mission to ‘Ruin’ Their Lives With $1M ‘Financial Abuse Theft’ Lawsuit
July 24 2024, Published 8:00 a.m. ET
One of Priscilla Presley’s ex-business partners has hit back at a lawsuit, in which she claims her former partners stole money and took advantage of her.
RadarOnline.com can reveal that Presley, 79, filed a lawsuit on July 18 accusing several of her ex-partners of stealing $1 million from her and subjecting her to abuse. However, one of the defendants has slammed the suit, calling it retaliatory.
In a statement, obtained by PEOPLE and issued on behalf of Presley’s former business partner Brigitte Kruse, her attorneys wrote: “The suit filed is a retaliatory lawsuit due to the one filed by Priscilla’s business partners last year. We are confident that the facts will speak for themselves, and justice will prevail."
As RadarOnline previously reported, Kruse filed a suit against Elvis Presley’s ex-wife last year, claiming that she screwed her over after they partnered in 2022 to develop a company called Priscilla Presley Partners.
According to the lawsuit, the reason for starting the company was to "prevent Priscilla's financial ruin and public embarrassment" by managing her business and personal affairs. Kruse alleged that Priscilla was about 60 days away from insolvency and was facing almost $700k in unpaid tax debt without assurance of her financial future or income, the documents stated, per TMZ.
Presley’s ex-business partner claimed she spent a ton of money and time to help launch projects related to Sofia Coppola's Priscilla film before allegedly losing all communication with the superstar around August 2023.
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Kruse claimed she was left high and dry after spending her own money, alleging that Presley cut her out of any profit that's come in over the past several months.
In her suit, Presley names Kruse and Priscilla Presley Partners. However, she also names former business partners Kevin Fialko, Vahe Sislyan, and Lynn Walker Wright.
According to court documents Presley claims they isolated her from “the most important people in her life,” pushed her into a form of “indentured servitude” and made her believe “that all of her former advisers were either deceitful or incompetent, and that she was leaving millions of dollars on the table as the result of their mismanagement.”
Because they were able to isolate her, the suit claims they managed to “fraudulently induce” Presley into giving them power of attorney, control over her family and personal trusts, and “control over her bank accounts,” and led her to believe they would take care of her “personally and financially.”
Court documents also stated that Presley and Kruse met through mutual connections and first came together to talk about selling Elvis Presley memorabilia and started working together at the end of 2021.
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In her filing, Presley claimed she created companies on Kruse’s advice, but she only received 20% of the income from them, and she’s seeking to have the licenses and operating agreements from those companies (which she calls “sham” companies) returned to her.
The statement from Kruse refuting these claims stated: "It saddens all of us who dropped our lives to provide aid to a woman who needed help, and she is now attempting to use her celebrity status to ruin the lives of kind, hardworking people."
Kruse’s statement continued: "We will continue to focus on our business and look forward to our day in court. The truth will come out by way of evidence and not rumors. There will be no further comment at this time as we respect the judicial process.”