Priscilla Presley is suing several former business partners for financial elder abuse, alleging they stole more than $1 million from her.
In a lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.com Elvis Presley’s 79-year-old ex-wife claims Brigitte Kruse, Kevin Fialko, Vahe Sislyan and Lynn Walker Wright “exploited her” and took control of her finances, “forcing her into a form of indentured servitude” in a “carefully planned and despicable scheme.”
Priscilla says she met Kruse — who sued her for breach of contract in February — in 2021 when Kruse ran a business that sold Elvis memorabilia through an auction house.
The lawsuit alleges that Kruse convinced Priscilla that her former financial advisors were “deceitful or incompetent.” He then tricked her into signing contracts and setting up companies that gave her and her associates 80 percent of her income, leaving Presley with “only 20 percent of her own company.”
Priscilla alleges that the group bequeathed her minority shares in companies they founded, which profited from her “name, image and likeness.” The lawsuit is also against Priscilla Presley Partners, LLC.
Priscilla Presley is suing several former business partners for financial elder abuse — amid claims they stole more than $1 million from her (2023 photo)
The lawsuit also alleges embezzlement from the 2023 biopic Priscilla, starring Jacob Elordi and Cailee Spaeny, and labels Kruse a “fraudster and a pathological liar.”
Presley also alleges that her former business partners torpedoed a deal that gave the star an ownership stake in a cosmetics company, instead accepting a $300,000 advance, which she says she deposited into their own bank accounts.
The lawsuit alleges that the employees “opened new accounts at their preferred banks (thereby poisoning the relationship Presley had had with her financial institutions for years), added themselves to her bank accounts, transferred money between accounts (and into their own personal accounts), and engaged in sham insider transactions for their own gain.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Kruse and her associates withdrew $40,000 from an account for her son Navarone Garibaldi without permission, attempted to make deals involving the estate of the late Lisa Marie Presley and fraudulently charged Priscilla for moving and storage fees.
Priscilla, represented by Marty Singer, is suing Kruse, seeking more than $1 million in damages and seeking a nullification of the contracts she signed with Kruse and the other defendants.
DailyMail.com has contacted Kruse’s representative for comment.
In February 2024, Kruse said in her lawsuit against the star that she had prevented her “financial ruin and public humiliation.”
Kruse said in legal documents reviewed by him TMZ that she and the actress founded a company, Priscilla Presley Partners, in 2022.
In court documents, filed last September, Kruse said she gave Priscilla control of her business and personal affairs at a critical time when the celebrity was severely strapped for cash.
In a lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.com, the 79-year-old ex-wife of Elvis Presley alleges that Brigitte Kruse, Kevin Fialko, Vahe Sislyan and Lynn Walker Wright ‘exploited her’ – Kruse posed with Priscilla in an August 27, 2021 Instagram post advertising a luncheon on September 4, 2021 in Beverly Hills, California
The lawsuit alleges that Kruse convinced Priscilla that her former financial advisors were “deceptive or incompetent” — then allegedly tricked her into signing contracts and setting up companies that gave her and her employees 80 percent of her income — leaving Presley with “only 20 percent of her own company.” Pictured in January 2024
Priscilla is pictured with Elvis Presley on their wedding day in 1967
At the time, Priscilla still owed $700,000 in taxes, Kruse told the court.
According to Kruse, Presley was “about 60 days away from financial collapse” when she got her affairs in order.
Kruse told the court she had invested “a significant amount of money and time” in projects for Priscilla in order to benefit from the publicity surrounding the Sofia Coppola biopic Priscilla, due for release in October 2023.
Kruse, who is suing for breach of contract, said Priscilla cut off all contact with her in August 2023 and failed to compensate her for money she earned from projects she worked on.
Priscilla, who has appeared in films including The Naked Gun trilogy and The Adventures of Ford Fairlane, has filed documents asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit, the site said.
Priscilla Singer’s attorney said the star stopped working with Kruse when she learned that “Kruse and her associate were attempting to embezzle Ms. Presley’s assets and were engaged in other crimes.”
Singer said Priscilla “had filed significant claims against PPP and its directors Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko for embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars long before this sophistry was instituted.”
He added: ‘We fully expect that my client will be acquitted and that a sentence will be passed against him.’
She posed with Priscilla in an August 27, 2021, Instagram post promoting a September 4, 2021, luncheon in Beverly Hills, California.
In February 2024, Kruse said in her lawsuit against the star that she had prevented her “financial ruin and public humiliation”
On December 30, 2022, Kruse advertised an event with Priscilla, scheduled for January 5, 2023 at The Vineyard Wine Bar & Healthy Bistro in Orlando, Florida.
In an October 2021 biography on her social media page, Kruse was described as “founder and head auctioneer of a world-renowned auction house,” “an influential force in the auction industry,” and “a tremendous advocate for the underprivileged.”
The description continued: ‘From her record-breaking auctions of entertainment memorabilia, haute couture fashion, fine jewelry and royal artifacts, she remains relentless in giving back to her community and to the causes important to her.’