Keya Morgan, former manager of the late comic book legend Stan Lee, has been charged with a series of crimes. The charges allege that Morgan abused Lee prior to the latter’s death last year.
Per Reuters , Morgan has been charged with five counts of elder abuse — including false imprisonment, fraud, and forgery — related to an incident last summer involving Lee. A warrant has been issued for Morgan’s arrest. Lee died in November of 2018, at the age of 95.
Last year, Lee’s family had accused Morgan of seizing control of Lee’s home, and of otherwise abusing the elderly comics legend. Per TMZ, Morgan was accused by Lee’s family of having taken more than $5 million of Lee’s money, while also causing “severe physical and emotional injuries.”
A piece from The Hollywood Reporter from April of 2018, titled “Stan Lee Needs a Hero,” quoted a document signed by Lee alleging that three men with “bad intentions” — one of whom was Morgan — had ingratiated themselves to Lee’s daughter, J.C., in order to “gain control over my assets, property and money.”
Lee, however, later backed off the declaration, and Morgan soon took control, throwing out Lee’s longtime assistant, housekeeper, and others. Morgan also produced a video in which Lee stated that he was not being abused, and that “my relationship with my daughter has never been better, and my friend Keya Morgan and I also have a great relationship… anybody who is saying anything [else]… is just spreading lies.”
The story from The Hollywood Reporter mostly hinged around an alleged power struggle among various hangers-on, including Morgan, following the 2017 death of Lee’s wife, Joanie. Lee and his wife were together for seven decades.
Stan Lee’s former manager has been charged with elder abuse against the comic-book legend. https://t.co/X6XKMSuo81 pic.twitter.com/J0mlyG1gIs
— Reuters (@Reuters) May 14, 2019
The story described Morgan as a “noted dealer in rare memorabilia and artifacts pertaining to American cultural figures,” who had been working to produce a biopic of Lee. Morgan was also reportedly involved in a bizarre effort to use Lee’s actual blood in order to create a “DNA” ink to be used in pens and stamps. Morgan attended Forest Hills High School, the same high school as Lee’s creation, Spider-Man, and is said to keep a Spider-Man sculpture in his bedroom.
Lee, the longtime editor-in-chief for Marvel Comics, had a hand in the creation of Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor, and many other iconic characters. Once the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies began in 2008, Lee famously made a cameo in each film. Lee also appeared in non-MCU movies with Marvel characters, films made by other studios like Sony and Fox. The last of Lee’s cameos, filmed before his death, was included in last month’s Avengers: Endgame .