Stan Lee’s business partner faces elder abuse restraining order
A FORMER lawyer for the 95-year-old founder of Marvel Comics has taken out a restraining order against his business partner, accusing him of elder abuse.
Stan Lee, who co-created fictional characters including Spider-man, the Hulk, Doctor Strange and the X-men, has amassed a fortune worth more than $50 million (£37.5 million).
When Joan, his British-born wife of 69 years, died in July 2017, Keya Morgan, 41, a New York memorabilia dealer, “inserted himself into Mr Lee’s life”, according to court documents.
Tom Lallas, Mr Lee’s former lawyer, took out the restraining order against Mr Morgan on Wednesday and the Los Angeles police department are investigating accusations of elder abuse.
The court action comes just four days after Mr Lee posted a video on Twitter saying Mr Morgan was his only partner, his sole representative, and “the two of us work together and are conquering the world side by side”.
Mr Lallas, however, has sought to remove Mr Morgan from Mr Lee’s side. He claims, in court documents, that Mr Morgan allegedly isolated Mr Lee from his family and that last week he moved Mr Lee from his home of many years into an apartment.
Mr Lallas said that, soon after Mr Morgan came on the scene, he was fired by Mr Lee without explanation, and was left unable to get in touch with the comic creator.
Mr Lallas said that Mr Lee had signed a declaration expressing “concerns regarding the intention and conduct of various people” in February.
Mr Morgan has not commented on the accusations of elder abuse, but was arrested on Monday on suspicion of filing a false police report of an emergency after he was barred from entering Mr Lee’s home on May 30, while detectives and a social worker were conducting a welfare check.
Mr Morgan had called the police to allegedly make a false report that burglars were in his home.
Mr Morgan told TMZ that he had cared for Mr Lee “for the past many years, and have never had a problem directly with Stan”.