An attorney for Priscilla Presley has responded to a lawsuit filed by his client’s former business partners earlier this week accusing her of hastening her daughter Lisa Marie Presley’s death so she could take control over her ex-husband Elvis Presley’s financial estate.
Marty Singer, Priscilla Presley’s attorney, called the lawsuit “a sad and vicious attempt to falsely tarnish the reputation of an eighty-year-old woman” in a statement to NBC News.
“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,” Singer said. “These fabricated claims have absolutely no validity and we are confident this case will be dismissed.”
Riley Keough, the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and granddaughter of Priscilla Presley, “stands behind her grandmother 100% and is equally disgusted with this latest, vicious attempt … to ruin her grandmother’s life,” Singer said.
Representatives for Keough said in a statement to NBC News her grandmother’s attorneys “say it all.”
Priscilla Presley’s former business partners, Brigitte Kruse and Kevin Fialko, filed a complaint against her in LA County Superior Court on Monday, Aug. 11, accusing her of fraud, breach of contract and other civil misdeeds.
Kruse and Fialko, who were once the heads of Priscilla Presley Partners, say in the suit they had been collaborating with Priscilla Presley to maximize her name, image and likeness.
But once they improved her financial standing, she “abruptly cut ties” with them and denied them brand opportunities related to the movie “Priscilla” and other projects, Kruse and Fialko allege.
Kruse and Fialko also make an explosive allegation regarding the death of Priscilla Presley’s daughter in 2023.
Lisa Marie Presley died of a small bowel obstruction on Jan. 12, 2023, in Los Angeles, according to an autopsy report from the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner obtained by NBC News.
According to the complaint, Lisa Marie Presley was “noticeably ill, complaining to Priscilla about her health” when they attended the 2023 Golden Globes, just two days before her death.
Instead of caring for her daughter or taking her to a nearby hospital, the lawsuit alleges Priscilla Presley “clasped to the spotlight, going out to the Chateau Marmont for drinks with Lisa, and then sent Lisa on a long drive to her Calabasas home.”
Just over 24 hours later, Lisa Marie Presley was rushed to the hospital after she suffered cardiac arrest, the complaint states.
Priscilla Presley went to the hospital, and “despite Lisa’s clear directive to ‘prolong her life’, Priscilla pulled the plug within hours of Lisa being admitted, and before her granddaughter, Riley, was able to get to the hospital,” the complaint alleges.
About a week after her daughter’s death, Priscilla Presley allegedly said, “I’m the queen. I’m in charge of Graceland,” according to the complaint.
In recent years both parties have filed other lawsuits against each other, including one in which Priscilla Presley accused her former business partners of financial elder abuse.
An attorney for one of the former business partners called that lawsuit “retaliatory” due to another lawsuit they had filed against her the year before. Both lawsuits are still ongoing.
Priscilla Presley was married to Elvis Presley for six years before they divorced in 1973. Elvis Presley died four years later, in 1977.