Priscilla Presley Sues for ‘Abhorrent’ Financial Elder Abuse, Claims Losses Over $1 Million

Priscilla Presley has filed a lawsuit against her former business associates, alleging financial elder abuse and fraud, claiming they swindled her out of over $1 million. The complaint, filed in Los Angeles, accuses memorabilia auctioneer Brigitte Kruse and investor Kevin Fialko of forcing Presley into a form of indentured servitude, where they took the majority of any revenue she earned. Presley describes Kruse as a con artist who misappropriated funds and fraudulently induced her into signing contracts that gave Kruse and Fialko significant control over her business ventures. The lawsuit outlines a scheme where the defendants gained Presley’s trust, isolated her, and exploited her financially.

Presley alleges that the defendants placed a stranglehold on her finances, withholding significant earnings from her work, including $500,000 from Sofia Coppola’s film adaptation of her biography and $349,900 from a cosmetics deal. Despite negotiating the film deal independently, Presley claims Kruse and Fialko never paid her. Furthermore, Kruse and her legal team have stated they have not received a copy of the lawsuit and cannot respond. This lawsuit follows a previous breach of contract suit filed by Kruse in Florida, where she accused Presley of illegally terminating their business partnership after the death of Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.

In the detailed 45-page complaint, Presley describes how Kruse ingratiated herself into Presley’s life, manipulating her to distrust her former advisors and making substantial payments to themselves from Presley’s accounts. Presley claims they charged unnecessary fees, transferred her accounts to their banks, and even had her paying the mortgage on a home owned by Kruse’s husband. When their scheme was uncovered, the defendants allegedly portrayed themselves as victims by filing a lawsuit against Presley. Presley is seeking at least $1 million in damages, punitive damages, attorney’s fees, and the rescission of fraudulently induced agreements to regain control of her accounts and a full accounting of the defendants’ financial misconduct.

For more information see Nancy Dillon "Priscilla Presley Sues for ‘Abhorrent’ Financial Elder Abuse, Claims Losses Over $1 Million" Rolling Stone, July 18, 2024. 

Special thanks to Naomi Cahn (Harold H. Greene Professor of Law, George Washington University School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.