Lisa Marie Presley’s death at the age of 54 has left unresolved legal battles over her finances, and questions as to how she managed to lose the $100 million fortune left to her by her father.
Presley, whose death on Thursday was confirmed by her mother Priscilla, was still battling her fourth and final husband Michael Lockwood when she died.
Lockwood, the father of her twin daughter Vivien and Finley, was seeking $40,000 a month in child support and insisted she had more money than she claimed in court documents.
Presley, in turn, said she was at one point $16 million in debt, following disastrous business deals made by her business manager Barry Siegel.
She sued him in 2018, accusing him of mismanaging her inheritance.
Lisa Marie Presley was Elvis’s only child and was nine when he died in 1977. He left his entire estate to her, on her 25th birthday
Presley was married to actors Danny Keough, Michael Jackson, and Nicholas Cage before Lockwood, but is not believed to have gained financially from her marriages to the King of Pop and Oscar-winning actor.
The only child of Elvis, she left his entire estate in his will when he died in 1977, aged 42.
She took control of the trust in 1993, aged 25.
At the time of his death, Elvis was worth only $5 million, but Priscilla cannily turned Graceland into a tourist attraction and set up Elvis Presley Enterprises, capitalizing on his image and massive fandom.
By the time Lisa Marie took the reins, the fund was worth a healthy $100 million.
She appointed Barry Siegel in 1995 to manage the money.
Siegel, senior managing director of Provident Financial Management and a prominent entertainment business manager, counted Al Pacino, Elijah Wood, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons as his clients.
But in 2005 Siegel sold off 85 percent of her share in Elvis Presley Enterprises, which saw her lose control of her father’s name and image rights.
Siegel said the deal ‘cleared up over $20m in debts that Lisa had incurred and netted her over $40m cash and a multi-million-dollar income stream’.
Presley said it lost her millions thanks to a subsequent investment in Core Entertainment, the company behind American Idol that went bankrupt in 2016.
He then allegedly began liquidating Presley’s assets in order to supplement her trust income.
She also claimed his business decisions left her with a $500,000 credit card debt.
Presley divorced her fourth husband, Michael Lockwood, in 2016, and in their divorce, proceedings claimed she was $16 million in debt – which Lockwood said was not true.
In 2018, she sued Siegel, accusing him of mismanaging her finances.
Siegel and his company, Providence Financial Management, countersued, alleging Presley’s ‘out-of-control spending’ led to her financial predicament.
Leon Gladstone, a lawyer representing Barry Siegel, said at the time: ‘It’s clear that Lisa Marie is going through a difficult time in her life and is looking to blame others instead of taking responsibility for her actions.’
