The estate of Dolly Parton is suing and requesting a restraining order against Bryan Seaver, the late icon’s nephew and head of security, The New York Times reports. Parton’s longtime manager, Danny Nozell, accuses Seaver of an “obscene” and “escalating campaign of threats” intended to extort money from the estate since Parton’s death. “I’m a killer,” Seaver wrote to one of Parton’s lawyers, the lawsuit claims. In a separate email to Nozell, he allegedly added, “I’m literally an international arms dealer and mercenary. All I do is warfare. Everyone needs to be worried about what I might do.”
When Parton died from cancer last month, Seaver was the family member tasked with revealing the news to the public. Last week, he was fired as head of security for her properties. The restraining order seeks to prevent Seaver from interfering with Parton’s businesses and their partners, and to keep him 1,000 feet away from the offices. The estate claims members of Parton’s staff have already resigned because of Seaver’s threats. “I’m going to ratf**k every entity I can possibly conjure,” he allegedly wrote in another email. And someone identified as Seaver added in another message to one of Parton’s business partners, “Her money better be bigger than I can make elsewhere or I’m going to f*** everyone. I am about to become the hand of retribution for my entire family.”
Seaver told TMZ yesterday that his messages had been taken out of context. “I am a career soldier and military contractor and do conduct arms deals for foreign governments,” he said, according to TMZ. “I am a security professional and I am a killer.” He reportedly added, “However, nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by.” Turns of phrase such as the “ratf**k” comment, he added, were “about specific, horrible business partners that have done wrong to her.”
The extortion lawsuit is part of the complex operation to divide up a vast entertainment enterprise that includes Parton’s Dollywood amusement park and a hotel and museum in Nashville. It was filed in Nashville by She’s Alive LLC, a company that Parton established to manage her posthumous financial affairs and handed to Nozell before her death. Seaver has been served with a temporary restraining order while the claim is processed.