Dolly Parton’s $450m estate is facing a legal crisis after her nephew, Bryan Seaver, was fired and accused of threatening family members, business partners and lawyers over money.
Parton, the legendary American country singer, died in August at the age of 80.
She’s Alive, the company that manages Parton’s business ventures, filed a restraining order against Seaver on Tuesday.
The company filed the case at the Davidson County Chancery Court in Nashville, Tennessee.
According to the court filing, Seaver made a series of threats in an attempt to obtain money from Parton’s estate.
Seaver accused of threatening Parton’s associates
The filing described Seaver’s security operation as “a heavily armed, paramilitary-style force”.
Seaver ran the operation through his company, Squadron Augmented Protection Services, LLC (SAPS).
The complaint said the company had military-grade weapons and employed dozens of people.
Court documents also reportedly included text messages from someone identified as Seaver.
In one message, he allegedly threatened a Dollywood business partner. He said he would become “the hand of retribution for my entire family”.
The complaint also said Seaver described himself as a “killer” in a September 3 message to one of Parton’s attorneys.
Seaver also allegedly threatened to start a podcast against Parton’s business partners.
According to the filing, 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 against his family.
Nozell fired Seaver on September 15.
The lawsuit also claimed that a lawyer for Parton’s estate and trust resigned after Seaver allegedly made “harassing and ominous threats” during a phone call.
Some employees also left their jobs, while others hired private security because of concerns over the dispute.
She’s Alive alleged that Seaver later threatened its staff, lawyers and business partners.
He allegedly vowed to “destroy the entire brand” and threatened to “ratfuck every (business party) entity”.
Seaver denies making threats
Seaver denied that his messages amounted to threats.
Speaking to TMZ, he said: “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 also 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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