Priscilla Presley has refuted allegations that she led her daughter Lisa Marie Presley to an early death to regain control of the Presley estate
The 80-year-old widow of the "King of Rock and Roll", Elvis Presley - who died aged 42 in August 1977 - is being sued by her ex-business partners, Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, in a $50 million civil lawsuit.
18 August 2025
They allege Priscilla set out to "defraud" them, as well as "destroy reputations with unsubstantiated claims" and "exploit" Lisa Marie's death to "regain control over Elvis Presley's legacy and assets."
The plaintiff claimed Priscilla dismissed Lisa Marie's health concerns at the Golden Globes in support of her dad's Elvis biopic on January 10, 2023 - with her dying from small bowel obstruction, which led to cardiac arrest, days later on January 12. She was aged 54.
The complaint claims: "Crucially, Priscilla was aware that Lisa was getting ready to remove her as the sole trustee of Lisa's irrevocable life insurance trust, and was otherwise threatening to sue her."
It added that Priscilla allegedly ignored Lisa Marie's 2010 Advance Health Care Directive - wanting her life "to be prolonged as long as possible in making end-of-life decisions" and "pulled the plug within hours of Lisa being admitted and before her granddaughter Riley [Keough] was able to get to the hospital".
The lawsuit continued to claim: "Priscilla knew that Lisa's death neutralized the threat of Lisa's efforts to have Priscilla removed as the sole trustee of Lisa's irrevocable life insurance trust, and Priscilla ultimately wanted to control the Promenade Trust and Graceland.
"At her house the following week (before Lisa's funeral), Priscilla exclaimed, 'I'm the queen. I'm in charge of Graceland.'"
Now, Priscilla's attorney Marty Singer has branded the plaintiff's allegations as "malicious character assassination".
He told the Daily Mail: "This is, without a doubt, one of the most shameful, ridiculous, salacious, and meritless lawsuits I have seen in my practice.
"This is nothing more than a sad and vicious attempt to falsely tarnish the reputation of an 80-year-old woman in blatant retaliation for bringing a lawsuit to redress the wrongful conduct of Brigitte Kruse, Kevin Fialko, and their co-conspirators.
"Kruse and her co-conspirators are now on their fourth different set of lawyers in this dispute, and this is a disgusting publicity stunt by new counsel, as evidenced by the fact that the complaint and press release were sent to the press before the complaint was served.
"Accusing a grieving mother of contributing to her daughter's death is not savvy advocacy; it is malicious character assassination, and should be broadly condemned.
"These fabricated claims have absolutely no validity, and we are confident this case will be dismissed."
Lisa Marie's daughter, singer Riley, 36, "stands behind her grandmother 100 per cent and is equally disgusted with this latest, vicious attempt by Kruse to attempt to ruin her grandmother's life."
In August 2023, Riley became the heir of Lisa Marie's trust and oversees the sub-trusts for her 16-year-old twin sisters, Harper and Finley.
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