The estate of Elvis Presley is suing a Las Vegas casino hotel for the return of The King’s personal artifacts and memorabilia it loaned out.
Elvis Presley Enterprises had loaned the Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino hundreds of items for the ‘Graceland Presents Elvis’ attraction at the hotel.
Items include Presley’s Harley-Davidson, stage outfits, jewelry, personal letters and a high school yearbook.
The hotel took possession of the items last month after shutting down the attraction due to an ongoing dispute with third party operator Exhibit A Circle, which managed the attraction.
The lawsuit accuses the casino of holding on to the items as a bargaining tool in its leasing dispute with Exhibit A Circle and is seeking their return and punitive damages.
In the lawsuit Elvis Presley Enterprises says it is the legal owner or long-term leaseholder of more than 1.5 million items that were once owned by Elvis.
It is an innocent party stuck in the middle of the dispute, it claims.
The lawsuit stated Elvis Enterprises ‘has no confidence in Westgate’s ability to secure its property.’
"Westgate cut off access to the video feed to the security cameras that were installed to ensure the authenticity and safety of the artifacts. By shutting off this video, Westgate prevented anyone from seeing what Westgate did with Elvis Presley Enterprises’ artifacts," the complaint said.
"Without the video, Elvis Presley Enterprises cannot confirm whether the artifacts were damaged, switched out, or otherwise misused."
Westgate said Exhibit A Circle broke the terms of its 10-year leasing contract with the casino which is currently under review by an independent arbitrator.
