Stan Lee‘s estate is one step closer to clearing a messy legal battle with allegations of exploitation and elder abuse by the comic book legend’s inner circle, with the settlement of a lawsuit against Lee’s former business manager, Jerardo “Jerry” Olivarez.
According to a court document filed on Monday, Lee’s estate moved to dismiss claims against Olivarez. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed. The settlement does not include any claims against Lee’s former attorney, Uvi Litvak.
The four-year legal saga, fueled by The Hollywood Reporter‘s research detailing allegations of elder abuse revolve around an ugly battle over Lee’s estate, which includes his daughter, JC, and people who allegedly manipulated her into exploiting her famous father. Lee accused JC, his only child and heir to his estate, of verbally abusing him. THR reported that JC’s outbursts became physical at some points in conflicts over money.
Stan Lee indicted Olivarez and Litvak in 2018, he called them “unscrupulous businessmen, sycophants and opportunists” who tried to take advantage of him after the death of his wife, Joan Lee.
A florist turned publicist, Olivarez came into Lee’s inner circle as a consultant to JC and Joan’s various business endeavors before being given power of attorney over Lee after Joan’s death. He was given the title of ‘senior advisor’, who performed care duties for Lee.
“Jerry Olivarez and JC Lee, the only daughter of Stan and Joan Lee and trustee of the Lee Family Trust, are pleased to announce the resolution of their dispute in court,” Olivarez’s attorney Donald Randolph said in a statement Wednesday. “The genesis of this dispute was the unfortunate manipulation of Stan Lee and his family, undertaken by certain individuals – unnamed in the lawsuit – intended to unfairly charge Jerry Olivarez. These individuals exercised undue influence on the Lee family to accuse Jerry Olivarez of harmful acts he did not do.”
According to the indictment, Olivarez along with his lawyers fired 26-year-old Stan Lee banker and transferred about $4.6 million from his bank account without authorization. After convincing Lee to transfer the power of attorney to him, Olivarez allegedly appointed his own attorney, Livtak, as Lee’s attorney without disclosing the conflict of interest.
Before his death, Lee alleged that Olivarez tricked him into lending $300,000 to a merchandising company posing as a nonprofit promoting racial peace, bought an $850,000 apartment with his money, nearly $1.4 million of his money. deleted accounts through a series of wire transfers and changed his will. His allegations included fraud, financial abuse of an elder and misappropriation of name and likeness.
“Olivarez abused his trusting relationship with Lee and JC Lee, knowledge of Lee’s and JC Lee’s confidential affairs and estate planning operations, and ability to deceive Lee because of his advanced age, all in a surreptitious and deliberate attempt to deceive Lee into a large number of schemes and financial missteps that benefited Olivarez and disenfranchised Lee,” the indictment reads.
Litvak remains a defendant in the case. In 2019, a judge granted a motion to refer the dispute to arbitration. Lee filed claims against him for legal malpractice and breach of fiduciary duty. Livtak’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
Los Angeles prosecutors are too file a case against Lee’s former business manager, Keya Morgan. He was charged in 2019 with theft, embezzlement, fraud and false imprisonment of an older adult. Lee called him one of the “bad actors with bad intentions” who tried to manipulate him in a court statement. In 2018, Lee was given a restraining order against Morgan. He was accused of isolating Lee from family and friends to embezzle art, cash and other assets worth more than $5 million. Lee’s former corporate and wealth manager Bradley J. Herman is listed as a witness for the prosecution.
Morgan, who accompanied Lee to the premieres of Marvel movies and acted as his kind of publicist, is said to be behind a $1 billion lawsuit from Lee against Pow! entertainment. Lee, who founded the company in 2001, claimed he was over-influenced to get rid of his intellectual property and likeness rights. He later dropped the suit, which JC kept chasing. A 2020 federal appeals court overturned a ruling awarding $1 million in penalties to Pow! Entertainment, who argued that JC’s lawsuit was undeserved from the start but allowed an injunction to dismiss the case.