By Eve Buckland and Adam Levy For Dailymail.com
21:11 18 Jul 2024, updated 21:43 18 Jul 2024
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Priscilla Presley is suing several former business associates for financial elder abuse – amid claims they stole over $1million from her.
In a lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.com , the 79-year-old ex-wife of Elvis Presley claims Brigitte Kruse, Kevin Fialko, Vahe Sislyan and Lynn Walker Wright ‘preyed on her’ and took control of her finances ‘forcing her into a form of indentured servitude’ in a ‘meticulously planned and abhorrent scheme.’
Priscilla says she met Kruse – who sued her in February for breach of contract – in 2021 when Kruse ran a business selling Elvis memorabilia through an auction house.
The lawsuit claims Kruse convinced Priscilla her former financial advisors were either ‘deceitful or incompetent’ – before allegedly duping her into signing contracts and forming companies which allowed her and her associates to get 80 per cent of her income – leaving Presley with ‘just 20 percent of her own company.’
Priscilla claims the group left her with minority shares in companies they created which profited off her ‘name, image and likeness’. The lawsuit is also against Priscilla Presley Partners, LLC.
The lawsuit alleges funds from 2023 biopic Priscilla which starred Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny were also misappropriated and brands Kruse a ‘con artist and pathological liar.’
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Presley also claims her ex-business associates ‘torpedoed’ a deal for the star to get an ownership interest in a cosmetics company – but instead settled for a $300,000 upfront payment – which she says they put in their own bank accounts.
The lawsuit claims the associates were ‘setting up new accounts at their preferred banks (and poisoning the relationship Presley had for many years with her financial institutions), adding themselves to her bank accounts, transferring funds between accounts (and to their own personal accounts), and entering into sham, insider transactions for their own benefit.’
The lawsuit also claims Kruse and associates took $40,000 out of an account for her son Navarone Garibaldi without authorization, tried to make deals related to the late Lisa Marie Presley’s estate and fraudulently charged Priscilla for moving and storage expenses.
Priscilla – who is represented by Marty Singer – is suing Kruse for more than $1million in damages and wants the contracts she signed with Kruse and the other defendants voided.
DailyMail.com has contacted Kruse’s representative for comment.
in February 2024 Kruse said in her lawsuit against the star that she prevented her ‘financial ruin and public embarrassment.’
Kruse said in legal docs reviewed by TMZ that she and the actress began a company Priscilla Presley Partners in 2022.
In the court papers, which were filed last September, Kruse said that she provided management to Priscilla for her business and personal affairs at a critical time when the celebrity was running perilously low on funds.
Priscilla had outstanding tax debts of $700,000 at the time, Kruse told the court.
Kruse said Presley had been ‘about 60 days away from financial collapse’ when she swooped in and got her affairs in order.
Kruse told the court that she spent ‘a significant amount of money and time’ working on projects for Priscilla to capitalize on from publicity of the Sofia Coppola biopic Priscilla, which was released in October of 2023.
Kruse, who is suing for breach of contract, said that Priscilla in August of 2023 ceased all contact with her and has not compensated her for money she’s made on projects that she had worked on.
Priscilla, who’s been seen in films such as The Naked Gun trilogy and The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, has filed papers requesting the court dismiss the lawsuit, according to the outlet.
Priscilla’s lawyer Singer said that the star ceased working with Kruse when she found out ‘Kruse and her associate were attempting to misappropriate Ms. Presley’s assets and were engaging in other acts of wrongdoing.’
Singer said Priscilla ‘made significant claims against PPP and its principals Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko for misappropriating hundreds of thousands of dollars long before this specious lawsuit was filed.’
He added: ‘We fully anticipate that my client will be vindicated and obtain a judgment against them.’
She was posed alongside Priscilla in an August 27, 2021 Instagram post in which she advertised a September 4, 2021 luncheon in Beverly Hills, California.
On December 30, 2022, Kruse advertised an event featuring Priscilla slated for January 5, 2023 at the The Vineyard Wine Bar & Healthy Bistro in Orlando, Florida.
In an October 2021 bio on her social media page, Kruse was described as a ‘founder and lead auctioneer for world-renowned auction house,’ ‘a powerful force in the auction industry’ and ‘an amazing advocate for those less fortunate.’
The description continued: ‘From her record breaking auctions in entertainment memorabilia, haute couture fashion, fine jewelry and Royal artifacts she still has never stopped giving back to her community and those causes which are important to her.’
