Priscilla Presley Sues Ex-Business Associates For Financial Elder Abuse
Priscilla Presley Suing For Financial Elder Abuse ... Claims Ex-Associates Stole Over $1 Million
update
7/22 12:35 PM PT -- Legal Representatives for Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko tell TMZ ... “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. 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. Thank you to all of our supporters who have stood by us during this difficult time. 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.”
4:30 PM PT -- Brigitte Kruse and her legal team tell TMZ ... "We cannot respond because counsel has not been served with a copy of the lawsuit. We have alerted Ms. Presley’s attorneys that we do not have a copy of this filing but they have not responded."
Priscilla Presley's suing several former business associates ... claiming she's been the victim of financial elder abuse.
TMZ has obtained legal documents, filed by Priscilla Presley's lawyer Marty Singer Thursday, claiming a woman named Brigitte Kruse and several others took advantage of her and bilked her out of more than $1 million.
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Presley claims Kruse is a "con artist and pathological liar" who took over control of PP's finances, forcing her into "a form of indentured servitude."
Priscilla says they met in 2021 when Brigitte ran a business selling Elvis memorabilia through an auction house, and they established a relationship Priscilla says allowed Brigitte to take advantage of her.
According to the lawsuit, Kruse convinced Presley her former financial advisors were either deceitful or incompetent ... and then duped her into signing contracts and forming companies that let her and her associates receive a whopping 80% of her income.
At the same time, Priscilla says the group left her with only minority shares in the companies they created and profited off her name, image and likeness ... specifically pointing to last year's controversial biopic "Priscilla" -- money from which Priscilla claims was also misappropriated.
Among the many claims ... Presley says her ex-business partners blew up a deal where Priscilla would've received an ownership interest in a cosmetics company, and instead settled for a $300k upfront payment -- which she claims they put into bank accounts they controlled.
She also alleges they took smaller amounts out of an account for Priscilla's son Navarone without authorization, charged her for moving and storage expenses, and tried to make arrangements and deals related to Lisa Marie Presley's estate after her tragic death.
This isn't the first legal issue between these 2 -- as we previously reported, Kruse sued Presley for breach of contract -- claiming she came in to help Presley stave off insolvency in 2022, but was abruptly cut off by Presley last year.
We were told at the time, Priscilla cut her off after discovering Kruse was misappropriating her funds ... claims similar to those now made in this lawsuit.
Presley's suing Kruse for more than $1 million in damages and wants the contracts she signed with Kruse, and the other defendants -- voided.
Originally Published -- 7/18 10:55 AM PT