Heartbreak estate: Inside the legal battles of Elvis Presley’s financial legacy

By Stacy Perman Los Angeles Times In the summer of Priscilla Presley seemed to be riding high Related Articles Dear Abby I ve given to kids is it too much New film academy members include Danielle Deadwyler Ariana Grande Jason Momoa Conan O Brien How do you make a Jurassic World movie With these commandments Fitness influencer and her date fatally shot by estranged husband in Fontana police say Music history is littered with projects planned anticipated even completed and then scrapped The ex-wife of the King of Rock n Roll had appeared at Graceland during the annual Elvis Week celebration and later hosted a three-day festival at the famous manse extolling the virtues of elegant Southern living Then there were the highly anticipated upcoming biopics director Baz Luhrmann s Elvis and Sofia Coppola s Priscilla based on her memoir for which she served as an executive producer Privately however it was a complex time for the actress Priscilla was mourning the passing of her mother just a year after her grandson Benjamin Keough the only son of her daughter Lisa Marie Presley had committed suicide at Adding to her personal woes Elvis former bride was in a serious financial hole as court filings would later claim Then she met Brigitte Kruse a flamboyant fifth-generation auctioneer and self-styled philanthropist who specialized in high-profile celebrity memorabilia royal objects estates and fine jewelry sales In Kruse gained a measure of renown when she sold an abandoned private plane known as the lost jet once owned by Elvis for After the pair were introduced they launched a joint venture that would cash in on Priscilla s famous name image and likeness through her paid general appearances and other projects Within months of their initial meeting Priscilla began lending her name to specific of Kruse s online Elvis memorabilia auctions with GWS Auctions Inc based in Agoura Hills California Less than two years later their partnership was in tatters with the two women trading bitter claims in dueling lawsuits Priscilla called Kruse who was half her age a con-artist and pathological liar who had forced her into a form of indentured servitude leading her into signing away of her income and conning her out of more than million according to the fraud and elder abuse lawsuit she filed against Kruse and her business associates in Los Angeles last year Kruse who did not respond to requests for comment has disputed Priscilla Presley s maintains depicting herself in court filings as her financial savior who faced retaliation after she sued Priscilla for breach of contract a year earlier The litigation is the latest in a string of legal battles that Priscilla and the Presley heirs have been involved in since Elvis died nearly years ago leaving a financial legacy as messy and fraught as the King s life While the storied Presley family has forever been enshrined in celebrity as America s reigning pop custom icons Elvis estate has long been the spigot of his heirs fortunes and misfortunes spilling out from the gates of Graceland As Joel Weinshanker managing partner of Elvis Presley Enterprises once revealed about another dispute involving the estate People have been trying to take from Elvis since Elvis was Elvis Inheriting a messy estate When -year-old Priscilla Beaulieu met Elvis Presley in he was already Elvis She was the stepdaughter of an U S Air Force officer living in West Germany where the rocker then was stationed during his military facility Rock n roll superstar Elvis Presley with his wife Priscilla and their newborn baby Lisa Marie at the Baptist Hospital at Memphis Tennessee in Keystone Getty Images North America TNS Four years later Priscilla moved to Memphis and stepped inside the gilded cage of Elvis fame In the couple married in Las Vegas With the birth of their daughter Lisa Marie nine months later a rock n roll dynasty was born But life inside of the irresistible mythology of Elvis proved stifling He was mostly on tour and in a haze of drugs and affairs At Priscilla divorced the rocker but not his stardom She built an agile career out of the ashes of their romance Priscilla went on to become an actress with a recurring role in the s CBS hit series Dallas starred in several of the Naked Gun movies and appeared in other television shows she also authored books and launched a fragrance But she never strayed far from the buzzy afterlife of Elvis orbit When Elvis died in their daughter Lisa Marie was just and his father Vernon Presley took the reins as executor of his estate After Vernon died in Priscilla a successor trustee assumed the role of primary manager Despite the celebrated influence and global popularity of Elvis who was estimated to have earned anywhere between million to billion his estate was in shambles worth only about million Graceland s costly maintenance and massive IRS bills were fast depleting Lisa Marie s inheritance The poor state of affairs was due in part to Elvis profligate spending He was known to lavish Cadillacs and jewelry on friends numerous of whom were also on his payroll But his fortune s wane was exacerbated by the abusive control that his longtime manager Col Tom Parker exerted over his business affairs The cigar-chomping Parker who died in was a former carnival barker and a compulsive gambler He wasn t however a colonel the Dutch-born Parker s real name was Andreas Cornelis van Kuijk During his time as Elvis manager Parker took commissions as high as and frequently cut deals that enriched himself at the rocker s expense Four years before Elvis died Parker sold off his back catalog to RCA for million with Parker taking million and Elvis million depriving the estate of untold millions in royalties In the co-executors of Elvis estate an attorney separately represented Lisa Marie sued Parker for massive fraud and mismanagement claiming he received the lion s share of Elvis income even after his death The parties eventually reached an out-of-court settlement Reviving Graceland But the years of profound missteps and mismanagement left Elvis estate facing the prospect of bankruptcy and worse having to sell Graceland Priscilla brought in a band of financial advisers and lawyers who engineered a stunning financial turnaround Visitors queue to enter the Graceland mansion of Elvis Presley on Aug in Memphis Tennessee Mandel Ngan Getty Images of North America TNS In the Elvis Presley Trust created Elvis Presley Enterprises Inc to conduct business and manage the trust s assets including Graceland which was opened to the inhabitants the following year Now a National Historic Landmark the tourist shrine generates an estimated million annually By the time Lisa Marie inherited her father s estate upon her th birthday in the estate had rebounded Two decades later Graceland along with the merchandising of Elvis image and managing his music royalties was worth upward of million Then in Elvis estate changed hands Lisa Marie agreed to sell of EPE s assets including her father s likeness rights to music entrepreneur Robert F X Sillerman and his company CKX Inc for million Under the deal Lisa Marie retained of the trust and received million in cash as well as million in CKX common and preferred stock She also retained sole ownership of Graceland and her father s personal items Priscilla received million for the use of the family name Fortune released But in CKX Inc sold its majority interest in the estate to the intellectual property firm Authenic Brands Group for a shared million The problems that had long trailed the estate surfaced again five years later This time it was Lisa Marie who alleged she had been duped Then and in the middle of divorcing her fourth husband Michael Lockwood the father of her twin girls she sued her business manager Barry Siegel She claimed that as a product of his reckless and negligent mismanagement the trust had dwindled to just and was left with in credit card debt Siegel denied the statements and countersued claiming that she had squandered her fortune as a outcome of her excessive spending At the time court filings related to her divorce from Lockwood revealed that she was million in debt A mother daughter feud When Lisa Marie died suddenly in January at the age of another tense legal battle erupted over the estate and the trust Lisa Marie had set up Riley Keough left and Priscilla Presley arrive at the th Primetime Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on Jan Myung J Chun Los Angeles Times TNS Within weeks of her death Priscilla went to court to challenge an amendment that removed her as a trustee making her granddaughter the actress Riley Keough sole trustee Priscilla s lawyers argued that the signature was inconsistent with Lisa Marie s handwriting The matter was settled five months later Keough was named sole trustee In exchange for stepping down Priscilla received a million lump sum payment paid out of Lisa Marie s million life insurance guidelines and was made a special adviser for a trust relating to EPE for which she would receive annually for years or until her death Priscilla was also granted permission to be buried in the Meditation Garden at Graceland near Elvis gravesite and to be given a memorial system on the property Dame Kruse By spring as Priscilla resolved her dispute with her daughter s estate Kruse s presence and influence in her personal and business affairs deepened When they met Priscilla was in her mid- s and her main source of income derived from her paid personal appearances Kruse s suit described Presley s celebrity as a mere shadow of what it once was and her earning prospective was only a fraction of what it previously was Moreover she claimed that Priscilla was days away from financial tragedy and drowning under in outstanding tax debts Then Kruse was publicly portrayed as a success advancing in the worlds of celebrity and philanthropy and who spoke multiple languages She highlighted her advocacy for children with autism and AIDS research donating money to related causes and delivering toys to orphans in global conflict zones with her husband Vahe Sislyan On social media and in news releases Kruse showcased her pursuits and accolades posting images alongside various marquee names such as the pop star Gwen Stefani and President Donald Trump and his wife Melania In seven years after Kruse and her husband founded GWS she was the first female auctioneer to make it into the Guinness Book of World Records for selling the largest abandoned world property Kruse formally added the honorific title Dame to her name after a member of the royal Italian Medici family conferred the title of Cavaliere a kind of knighthood on her In media interviews Kruse liked to say that the sale of Elvis lost jet had seared her reputation as the rocker s memorabilia dealer Over the years she was prolific selling a number of his items including the Smith Wesson that he was stated to have purchased in after he was attacked onstage in Las Vegas According to Priscilla she first met Kruse in June after the auctioneer texted her saying she d like to meet for lunch They dined at Gucci Osteria in Beverly Hills followed by numerous other get-togethers in Los Angeles Kruse introduced her to her business partner Kevin Fialko an investor experienced businessman and financial expert who would help Kruse get my financial affairs in order according to a declaration submitted by Priscilla When I first met Brigitte Kruse she wished to involve me in her auction business she wrote in her March declaration From there Kruse expeditiously immersed herself in Priscilla s life often sending her multiple text messages a day and telling her how much she loved her and admired her according to her elder abuse complaint She also talked up her credentials lineage and expertise in the auction business as well as her connections to celebrities In September Priscilla participated in one of GWS online auctions that featured a private lunch with her and Kruse with a portion of the proceeds going to a charity A number of Elvis items were also auctioned off such as the white eyelet jumpsuit cape he wore during his performances at Madison Square Garden and a jar of his hair She s just such a wealth of experience and knowledge You don t research and learn about Elvis without learning about Priscilla as well Their names are synonymous Kruse described People The following year Kruse s GWS conducted an online auction billed as The Lost Jewelry Collection of Elvis Presley and Colonel Tom Parker including watches rings and cuff links that Elvis had bought or commissioned for his manager Although she didn t own any of the items Priscilla provided letters of recollection vouching for her personal historical memories of multiple of them according to the auction s online catalog notes There is so much product out there that is not authentic at all and that worries me she revealed in a video with Reuters after viewing the collection I want to know for sure that that is going to go to someone who is going to care for it love it By January Priscilla and Kruse agreed to set up several companies to exploit Priscilla s name and image and to bolster Kruse s Elvis memorabilia auctions through Priscilla s written recollections The terms of their agreement gave Kruse and Presley of Priscilla Presley Partners LLC according to court filings Soon after however Priscilla alleged Kruse and Fialko expanded the scope of their interest in my affairs seeking to inject themselves into every area of my life They gained her trust and isolated her from key advisers setting the stage for a meticulously planned and abhorrent scheme intended to drain her of every last penny she had Presley alleged in her lawsuit Presley says that she was fraudulently induced to sign documents without the opportunity to review them in advance or advised as to the nature of the paperwork The contracts gave Kruse a controlling interest in her name image and likeness in perpetuity They also granted her power of attorney over Priscilla s affairs and healthcare care and named Kruse a trustee on her personal and family trusts according to Priscilla s declaration Along with Fialko Kruse closed Priscilla s bank accounts and opened new ones in an effort to transfer the funds of Presley s various personal business and trust accounts Priscilla alleges she also signed a five-year lease on a house in Orlando Florida owned by Sislyan that she never required for or craved Further Priscilla alleges in a declaration that Kruse and Fialko leaned on Coppola to get a credit on the biopic and diverted of money Presley earned from the film into their own accounts When Lisa Marie died Priscilla contended that Kruse and Fialko improperly inserted themselves into her legal dispute over her daughter s trust she announced in her complaint They also had the audacity to demand that they were allowed to attend any memorial arrangement for Presley in the future she added By August Priscilla severed ties with Kruse A lawyer representing Kruse and Fialko did not respond to a request for comment A scant months later Kruse through Priscilla Presley Partners sued for breach of contract saying Priscilla petitioned Kruse to take over her business affairs requiring her to devote her attention full-time to managing Priscilla s life in order to monetize various aspects of her Presley s life Kruse and Fialko maintained they worked tirelessly to keep Priscilla from financial ruin and general embarrassment and that she fully understood the agreements she was signing Meanwhile others began to question the authenticity around particular of GWS s Elvis sales When GWS held another online auction of Elvis memorabilia in January that included a one-of-a-kind grommet jacket that Elvis wore in it drew the attention of Elvis Presley Enterprises We know there was only one made and guess what We have it in our archives Weinshanker EPE s managing partner notified NBC News last July GWS noted the proposes were unsubstantiated GWS stands behind everything that it sells and categorically denies tracking in fake or inauthentic items attributed to Elvis Presley or otherwise The tensions escalated last November after GWS revealed another lost collection auction of Elvis and Col Parker memorabilia comprising items The cache of documents included telegrams Elvis and Parker sent to Frank Sinatra the Beatles and others handwritten notes and Elvis signed contract with the New Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas included in the auction that rang alarm bells The estate s lawyers in December sent a cease and desist letter to GWS claiming the listed auction items were the property of Graceland and demanded their immediate return Nonetheless GWS went forward with the sale contending in a letter it had acted appropriately On Dec the estate sued GWS Kruse and two others claiming the items belonged to Graceland and were improperly and illegally offered for sale at auction They sought to recover at least irreplaceable documents and alleged that the defendants were in possession of perhaps thousands more such items According to the suit the allegedly stolen items were part of an enormous trove that the estate acquired from Parker in for million GWS has denied that it had engaged in any wrongdoing whatsoever Elvis estate alleges that a former Parker employee named Greg McDonald took possession of the documents that should have been turned over to Graceland after Parker died Instead when McDonald died in his widow Sherry and son Thomas McDonald who are named as defendants took possession of the Property and then delivered it to Brigitte Kruse for sale at GWS the lawsuit states The suit further asserted that Kruse was aware of the circumstances in which Greg McDonald obtained the items before putting them up for sale In an email thread between Kruse and Graceland s longtime archivist in included in the filings Kruse wrote that she had a video of her in conversation with McDonald in which he admits to knowing of the theft in regards to the documents An attorney for Kruse disputed the claim saying in a declaration that when she had informed the Elvis estate of the existence of McDonald s collection in they did not make a claim to Mr McDonald alleging that the collection was not rightfully his GWS never maintained care custody or control of any of the items that were auctioned the comment read We will continue to respect the judicial process and the outcome of the ongoing litigation In a announcement to the Los Angeles Times on behalf of himself and his mother Thomas McDonald announced The property in which Graceland and Elvis Presley Enterprises are asserting ownership has been in my family s possession for over forty years as gifts from the Colonel I am committed to resolving this dispute and vindicating my family s rights as expediently and fairly as practicable Lawyers for EPE and Graceland Holdings did not respond to a request for comment As the various lawsuits were unfolding last April GWS Auctions was suspended by the Franchise Tax board in California effectively losing its standing to operate legally due to noncompliance with tax requirements In court filings Kruse and her co-defendants are cited as saying that GWS is defunct However GWS website remains proceeding and at the moment lists the results of its the bulk latest auction the Artifacts of Hollywood and Music sale held on June that included the racing helmet Elvis wore in Viva Las Vegas that sold for Last month Elvis former wife scored a legal win when a Los Angeles Superior Court judge denied a motion by Kruse and her business associates to temporarily put a hold on the elder abuse lawsuit in an effort to move the litigation to Florida Priscilla Presley attends the Songwriters Hall of Fame induction and awards gala at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on June Angela Weiss AFP GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA TNS In his ruling Judge Mark H Epstein expressed frustration with the defendants never-ending series of motions underscoring that this was not a a contract-based affair Presley is suing these defendants for fraud and elder abuse an aspect of which was allegedly bamboozling her into signing those agreements in the first place The ongoing clash with Kruse has left Priscilla devastated reported her attorney Wayne Harman We look forward to the court holding defendants fully accountable for their actions he declared in a declaration Amid the fallout with Kruse the estate faced another debate A mysterious company Naussany Investments Private Lending presented documents claiming that Lisa Marie had borrowed million and put up Graceland as collateral but had failed to repay the loan before she died But it was an elaborate scam according to federal functionaries who in August arrested a Missouri woman Lisa Jeanine Findley alleging she used fake documents to steal the family s ownership interest in Graceland and attempted to put it up for sale In February Findley pleaded guilty to mail fraud for her role in the scheme and is scheduled to be sentenced She faces a maximum penalty of years in prison Los Angeles Times Visit at latimes com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC