Stan Lee and Keya Morgan arrive at the world premiere of Avengers: Infinity War in Los Angeles, California. Morgan was taken into custody in Arizona on an outstanding arrest warrant after being charged by Los Angeles County prosecutors earlier this month.The Canadian Press
A former business manager of Stan Lee was arrested Saturday on elder abuse charges involving the late comic book legend.
Keya Morgan was taken into custody in Arizona on an outstanding arrest warrant after being charged by Los Angeles County prosecutors earlier this month.
Mr. Morgan faces felony charges including theft, embezzlement, forgery or fraud against an elder adult, and false imprisonment of an elder adult. A misdemeanour count also alleges elder abuse.
Authorities say Mr. Morgan sought to capitalize on the Marvel Comics mastermind’s wealth and exert influence over Mr. Lee even though he had no authority to act on his behalf.
Police say Mr. Morgan pocketed more than $262,000 from autograph signing sessions Mr. Lee did in May, 2018. Authorities say Mr. Morgan at one point also took Mr. Lee from his Hollywood Hills home to a Beverly Hills condominium “where Morgan had more control over Lee.”
Mr. Lee’s daughter said in a request for a restraining order last year that Mr. Morgan was manipulating the mentally declining Mr. Lee, preventing him from seeing family and friends, and trying to take control of his money and business affairs.
Attorney Alex Kessel has said Mr. Morgan has never abused or taken advantage of Mr. Lee. Mr. Kessel said in an e-mail on Saturday that he had been in contact with prosecutors to arrange for Mr. Morgan to surrender on Tuesday.
“It is unfortunate that the DA and police did not honour our commitment to surrender next week and arrested him,” Mr. Kessel said in an e-mail.
Mr. Lee died in November at the age of 95.
Mr. Morgan’s bail has been set at US$300,000. He will eventually be extradited to Los Angeles to face the charges.