Dolly Parton’s estate has been plunged into a legal dispute less than a month after the death of the legendary American singer.
Parton passed away in August at the age of 80.
She’s Alive, the corporation managing Parton’s business
ventures, filed a restraining order on Tuesday against Bryan Seaver, the
singer’s nephew and former head of her security team.
The case was filed in the Davidson County Chancery Court in
Nashville, Tennessee, amid allegations that Seaver launched an escalating
campaign of threats to obtain money from the country star’s $450m (£335m)
estate.
According to The Telegraph, the court filing described
Seaver’s security operation as “a heavily armed, paramilitary-style force”
rather than a conventional office-security operation.
The filing alleged that the operation, run through Seaver’s
company Squadron Augmented Protection Services, LLC (SAPS), possessed
military-grade weapons and employed dozens of people.
Text messages included in the court documents reportedly
showed that someone identified as Seaver threatened a business partner of
Dollywood and said he would become “the hand of retribution for my entire
family”.
The complaint also alleged that Seaver described himself as
a “killer” in a September 3 message to one of Parton’s attorneys.
Seaver was also accused of threatening to launch a podcast
aimed at damaging Parton’s business relationships.
According to the complaint, he told Danny Nozell, manager of
She’s Alive, that he would create a podcast “dedicated to ruining Dolly’s brand
partnerships” and exposing alleged violations committed against his family.
Nozell reportedly fired Seaver on September 15.
The lawsuit further claimed that a lawyer representing
Parton’s estate and trust resigned after Seaver allegedly made “harassing and
ominous threats” during a phone call.
Some employees have also reportedly left their positions,
while others have hired private security because of concerns arising from the
dispute.
The filing said Parton had valued employing family members
when they possessed skills that matched her business needs.
She’s Alive alleged that Seaver subsequently threatened the
corporation’s personnel, lawyers and business partners, including vowing to
“destroy the entire brand” and threatening to “ratfuck every (business party)
entity”.
Seaver, however, denied that his messages amounted to
threats.
In a statement to TMZ on Tuesday, he described himself as a
career soldier, military contractor and security professional. He also
maintained that the comments cited in the lawsuit had been taken out of
context.
“I am a career soldier and military contractor and do
conduct arms deals for foreign governments. I am a security professional, and I
am a killer. However, nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the
comments I stand by,” he said.
He said his messages to Nozell were private conversations
between two people who were grieving.
“I was talking frankly in a private way with Danny, who I
thought was my friend and he fancies himself a gangster. A lot of these
messages are two guys having rage talk and crying on the phone together while
we were grieving,” he added.
Parton’s estate has not publicly disclosed further details
about the financial dispute with Seaver.
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