Brigitte Kruse, Priscilla Presley’s former business partner, reacts to her elder abuse lawsuit
Brigitte Kruse, Priscilla Presley’s former business partner, has reacted to her claims of elder financial abuse.
On Monday, January 22, Kruse gave an interview to Us Weekly in which he dismissed as “retaliatory” the allegations made in the lawsuit that Marty Singer, Presley’s lawyer, had filed four days earlier.
“We have faith that justice will be served and the facts will speak for themselves,” Kruse said. It pains us all to have given up our lives to assist a woman in need, and now that she’s trying to use her fame to destroy the lives of good, honest people, it breaks our hearts. We are grateful to all of our supporters for being there for us throughout this trying time.
We’ll keep our eyes on our business and eagerly await our court appearance. Rumors will not bring forth the truth; facts will. We respect the legal process, thus we won’t be making any more comments at this time.
Presley, 79, filed a lawsuit against Kruse and four other business associates on Thursday, July 18, alleging 12 various offenses, including financial elder abuse.
Singing that they had “carefully” planned a plot against “an older woman by gaining her trust, isolating her from the most important people in her life, and duping her into believing that they would take care of her” both personally and financially, Singer claimed that they intended to “drain her of every last penny she had.”
Presley would work in “a form of indentured servitude,” according to Singer, who also said that the defendants wanted to seize control of her funds and “receive the lion’s share of any revenue that she was able to earn in the future.”
Us was able to obtain court documents that clearly described Kruse as a “pathological liar and con artist” who “misappropriated, [embezzled] and converted” more than $1 million from Presley with the help of defendant Kevin Fialko. According to additional allegations, they “fraudulently” forced Presley to “sign contracts” that guaranteed her an income of 80%.
As to the lawsuit, Kruse operated a company that dealt in Elvis Presley memorabilia and got to know the late singer’s ex-wife around 2021.(Kruse is the owner of GWS Auctions, a California-based company whose authenticity of Elvis artifacts is currently under investigation.)
Presley assisted in the management of the multi-million dollar Elvis Presley Enterprises and co-founded the company. Singer refuted the allegations made by Kruse and Fialko in their February lawsuit against Presley for breach of contract.
The defendants “developed a personal relationship with Presley that enabled them to gain her complete trust and isolate her from her long-time business and financial advisors,” according to the attorney in the lawsuit filed on July 18.
In addition, he said that they were given “power of attorney, control over her bank accounts, and control over her family and personal trusts.”
The initial lawsuit was an attempt by Kruse and Fialko to “falsely portray themselves as the victims” after “their scheme had been uncovered,” according to the filings.
In addition to attorney expenses, Presley is requesting a jury trial and $1 million in damages.
