Priscilla Presley's Ex-Business Partners Sue Her for $50M

Priscilla Presley's former business partners have filed a lawsuit seeking more than $50 million in damages, alleging fraud and breach of contract. Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko filed the lawsuit Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, per the AP. Among many other allegations, they say Presley used them to financially exploit her name, image, and likeness, hiding the fact that she had sold those rights decades earlier. The lawsuit comes just over a year after Presley, the 80-year-old former wife of Elvis Presley, sued Kruse and Fialko, alleging they engaged in elder abuse in an effort "to drain her of every last penny she had."

Kruse and Fialko's lawyer, Jordan Matthews, said in a statement Wednesday that the "evidence will establish that the real victims here are my clients, who invested millions and years of hard work into revitalizing Priscilla Presley's brand, only to be betrayed and falsely accused once the money was on the table and every personal and business issue had been resolved." Kruse and Fialko's lawsuit says Kruse is a well-known auctioneer and Fialko a successful entrepreneur, both of whom dealt in Elvis Presley memorabilia. The duo previously sued Priscilla Presley in Florida.

They say she approached them in 2021 looking for help to save her from financial ruin, which they spent thousands of hours working to do. They say they formed several companies to exploit her name, image, and likeness, while Presley hid from them that she had sold the rights to license her name as part of a $6.5 million deal with Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2005. The lawsuit says that when confronted about the previous agreement, Presley repeatedly denied making it, and later said she had forgotten about it.

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The lawsuit also alleges Presley sought to take advantage of the 2023 death of her daughter and Elvis Presley's heir, Lisa Marie Presley, to aggrandize herself and regain a stake in the Presley estate. Kruse and Fialko say they brokered a 2023 deal to end a legal fight over the estate between Priscilla Presley and Lisa Marie Presley's daughter, actor Riley Keough, getting Priscilla Presley $2.4 million. But the lawsuit says she cut them off in violation of contracts soon after, publicly smeared them, and then sued them.