A feud over Dolly Parton’s sprawling property spilled into the open on Tuesday when her longtime supervisor accused her nephew and former safety element of threats, extortion and intimidation.
The accusations towards the nephew, Bryan Seaver, have been made public in a request for a restraining order. It gives a glimpse right into a combat over Ms. Parton’s leisure enterprise, which incorporates the Dollywood amusement park and her Songteller lodge and Lifetime of Many Colours museum that’s set to open this month.
Mr. Seaver, who delivered the information of Ms. Parton’s demise from most cancers in a filmed video final month, was fired as head of safety for her properties final week. Within the court docket papers filed on Tuesday, he’s accused of mounting “an obscene, deliberate and escalating marketing campaign of threats” to acquire cash from the Parton property.
In textual content messages included within the court docket papers, somebody recognized as Mr. Seaver issued a profane menace towards at the least one Dollywood enterprise associate. He wrote that he would change into “the hand of retribution for my whole household,” based on the grievance.
In a Sept. 3 trade with a longtime lawyer of Ms. Parton’s, Mr. Seaver described himself as a “killer” and mentioned that on the day his aunt died, he had bought $27 million in arms and ammunition to the Haitian police. “Let’s have dinner…” Mr. Seaver wrote, based on a duplicate of the e-mail connected to the grievance.
In a textual content message despatched early on Wednesday morning, Mr. Seaver denied threatening anybody related to Ms. Parton’s property and mentioned that his messages had been twisted to painting him as an antagonist.
“This can be a contrived out-of-context rationalization of how this went down and it’s being accomplished in an effort to solidify me as some kind of opposition to her model in her legacy,” Mr. Seaver wrote, “and that’s not the case.”
He mentioned that Ms. Parton would name him “killer.”
“It was a joke we used round her camp,” he mentioned. “I used to be her ‘child boy ninja.’”
The request for a restraining order was filed in Davidson County Chancery Court docket in Nashville by She’s Alive, an organization chargeable for overseeing Ms. Parton’s many enterprise endeavors. It’s run by Danny Nozell, her longtime supervisor.
A lawyer for She’s Alive declined to remark additional.
Mr. Seaver and his exterior safety firm had lengthy overseen safety for Ms. Parton and her properties. Based on the grievance, “it was essential to her to make use of her members of the family after they had ability units appropriate together with her enterprise wants.”
The proposed order would hold Mr. Seaver from the corporate’s properties and workers, in addition to block him from having any contact with people that do enterprise with She’s Alive. The corporate additionally filed a lawsuit accusing Mr. Seaver of tortious interference and searching for an unidentified quantity of damages.
In his textual content message, Mr. Seaver — who described himself as a army contractor and worldwide arms seller — mentioned that Mr. Nozell had been a longtime confidant and “finest pal.” He described them as having labored collectively towards these making an attempt to use Ms. Parton’s wealth.
“I trusted Danny,” Mr. Seaver wrote, “and that’s what these messages have been, two pals and brothers commiserating on the those that have screwed Dolly over for a lot of a few years.”
He famous that he was finishing up his personal investigation into how her affairs have been managed across the time of her demise.
Ms. Parton efficiently leveraged her musical prowess and stardom right into a multi-pronged enterprise, most notably with Dollywood, positioned close to her hometown in east Tennessee. Even after her demise, it has continued to barrel ahead: Along with the lodge and museum, a line of dolls and a espresso model are additionally being launched this month.
Mr. Seaver claimed an in depth quantity of army expertise and dealings overseas, based on the grievance, which was earlier reported by TMZ. It mentioned his operation “was not a standard office-security operation; it was a closely armed, paramilitary-style pressure” with dozens of staff and entry to military-grade weaponry.
That was partially why Mr. Nozell and different enterprise associates mentioned that they had grown unsettled as Mr. Seaver started making calls for, beginning simply earlier than Ms. Parton’s demise. One lawyer representing the Parton property and belief give up after receiving “harassing and ominous threats” from Mr. Seaver in a cellphone name, based on the submitting. Some workers members have resigned, it mentioned, whereas others have employed non-public safety.
Mr. Seaver advised Mr. Nozell, based on the textual content messages, that he would “arrange a podcast devoted to ruining Dolly’s model partnerships and telling the violations these folks have accomplished on us.”
“It’s going to be nice,” Mr. Seaver wrote.
“Or pay me,” he added, punctuating the demand with an expletive.