\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\tFew artists cultivated and maintained careers and images as immaculately as Dolly Parton. She was, first and foremost, the brilliant singer-songwriter<\/a> and performer adored all over the world, but also a tireless worker<\/a>, shrewd entrepreneur, empire-builder, and philanthropist<\/a>. Everything Parton did was precise, even down to the way the news of her death<\/a> was announced last month: a pre-recorded video message delivered by her nephew Bryan Seaver, at Parton\u2019s request.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWith such scrupulousness, Parton\u2019s estate seemed primed to avoid the kind of posthumous infighting and chaos that so often consumes these institutions. But one month after her death, that chaos has arrived<\/a> with Seaver, Parton\u2019s longtime head of security, on one side and Parton\u2019s longtime manager Danny Nozell on the other. So far, a restraining order has been filed and alleged threats have been leveled in an ostensible power play that not only seems to involve control of the Parton empire, but relationships with her many brand partners and, most wildly, private security contractors and alleged multi-million dollar arms deals.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIt\u2019s a lot to unpack, so before a messy situation potentially gets even messier, here\u2019s what we know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSo who filed this restraining order and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tShe\u2019s Alive, LLC, a corporation tasked with managing Parton\u2019s myriad business ventures, and overseen by Nozell, filed for a restraining order against Seaver on Tuesday, Sept. 22. Brought in Davidson County Chancery Court in Tennessee, the complaint accused Seaver of launching \u201can obscene, deliberate, and escalating campaign of threats\u201d to extract money from the Parton estate. It also pointedly claimed that there was nothing conventional about Seaver\u2019s security operation, describing it as \u201ca heavily armed, paramilitary-style force capable of projecting threat and coercion against [She\u2019s Alive\u2019s] personnel and business partners.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWait, the kindly looking gentleman with the Santa beard who told the world Dolly Parton was dead oversees a \u201cheavily armed, paramilitary-style force\u201d? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAllegedly! The complaint specifically focuses on Seaver\u2019s company, Squadron Augmented Protection Services (SAPS), which according to its website claims to offer services ranging from business intelligence and executive protection to event and estate security. It even boasts its own K9 unit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tBut SAPS is one of several security companies Seaver runs. According to his LinkedIn, he\u2019s also CEO of a company called Fencebridge Strategic Risk and another called the Nightingale Group. Additionally, he serves as a colonel and squadron commander of the Tennessee Rangers, a volunteer group and self-described \u201cselect auxiliary constabulary and humanitarian aide organization\u201d that reports to the governor of Tennessee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAnd what exactly did Seaver and his companies do for Parton?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAccording to the complaint, they provided Parton with \u201cvarious security services\u201d for about two decades. This appears to have included personal security for Parton, as well as her properties and business ventures. The complaint suggests Seaver and SAPS were deeply embedded in Parton\u2019s world, giving them \u201can unusually deep understanding of the people, routines, vulnerabilities, and business relationships surrounding Ms. Parton\u2019s enterprise.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhat about these threats? When did they begin?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe order alleges they began before Parton\u2019s death on Aug. 25. A week before, on Aug. 19, Seaver allegedly sent Nozell a text threatening to “sabotage a core business relationship” between Dollywood, Parton’s famous theme park, and one of its partners. Additionally, it claims Seaver and \u201chis SAPS associates menaced and intimidated\u201d some of the business partner\u2019s own personnel at the new Parton-themed hotel and museum in Nashville.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe complaint includes several texts Seaver allegedly sent Nozell, including: \u201cI\u2019m going to destroy the entire brand if you don\u2019t get these [Dollywood business partners] out of our bit.\u201d And, \u201cI\u2019m going to ratfuck every [Dollywood business partner] entity I can possibly conjure.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThe suit does not name the business partner, nor does it describe Seaver\u2019s alleged issue with them. Parts of the texts also seem to indicate that Seaver thought he was trying to help Nozell. \u201cI\u2019ll earn you more money by virtue of their exit,\u201d he allegedly wrote. \u201cEmbarrassment on them at every turn is the answer. Let me keep at them. It costs you nothing. I am your ally. This is a long game you need to start doing on them. The Dollywood brand is dying.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSo we don’t really know what Seaver is mad about. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tCorrect, the complaint only suggests that Seaver was out to retaliate against \u201canyone he believed had crossed his family.” But no objects of his ire are named, whether they be specific people or businesses, nor are there any details about specific tensions or problems. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tStill, Seaver\u2019s text messages indicate he was fuming about some apparent wrongdoing. One especially ominous one reads: \u201cI am vengeance for my people for the next 50 years. I have no debt. I only own swords and guns. My children have 3 houses to live in forever. My wife owns everything. All I have is animosity and memory. But I\u2019m going to spend the next time I have on earth ratfucking anyone that has ever betrayed my family.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAccording to the complaint, Seaver was ultimately after money. It claims Seaver \u201cmade clear\u201d to Nozell that \u201chis goal was to cause fear and chaos to extort money for his personal gain.\u201d According to one text, Seaver allegedly threatened to \u201cset up a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly\u2019s brand partnerships and telling the violations these people have done on us.\u201d Seaver then added, \u201cOr fucking pay me. I don\u2019t have the fucking publishing or anything. I have the actual story.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tDid Seaver follow through on any of these alleged threats?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tIf Seaver does have knowledge of any unsavory business dealings, he has yet to disclose them. But the lawsuit does bring up two alleged instances where Seaver\u2019s threats extended to parties beyond Nozell and She\u2019s Alive employees. First, he allegedly \u201cleveled harassing and ominous threats\u201d against one of the lawyers for Parton\u2019s estate and trust, with the complaint describing the threat as \u201ccalculated to force counsel to choose between acceding to Mr. Seaver\u2019s demands and facing retaliation.\u201d According to the complaint, the lawyer \u201cterminated her representation” of Parton’s trust. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAdditionally, Seaver allegedly \u201csent a menacing email\u201d to a music industry lawyer who\u2019d worked with Parton for decades. That one included the eye-popping lines: \u201cI\u2019m not an entertainment person. I’m a killer. I sold 27 million $ worth of ammunition and arms to the Haitian Police on the day Dolly died. Entertainment is not my game. I have spent my entire career breaking things and spying on African and Arab leaders. And protecting Dolly. She hired me to keep errant tour accountants in check. Literally so I would kick the shit out of Northern Irish strong men and Danny wouldn’t get beat up or our bus tires slashed if he argued with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tWhat exactly Seaver wanted from this lawyer is, again, unclear, but it appears he was trying to establish some kind of partnership. The email ends with… let’s just call it not the most enticing invitation, but an invitation nonetheless: \u201cI would appreciate having a dialogue and communication route with you. I expect you know where all the bodies are buried same as me. Let\u2019s have dinner\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tYeah, that\u2019s pretty intense but \u2014 he sold $27 million worth of ammunition and arms to Haitian police <\/strong>the day Dolly Parton died<\/em><\/strong>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tOnce more, but probably not for the last time: Allegedly! There’s nothing in the public record right now to indicate there\u2019s any truth to this statement. The Haitian National Police and Seaver did not immediately return requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThis also isn\u2019t the only message Seaver sent Nozell in which he mentions the alleged deal. He brings it up while ostensibly boasting about his newfound prominence after announcing Parton\u2019s death. \u201cI just sold 29 million dollars worth of ammo to Haiti,” he allegedly wrote. “I\u2019m not exactly a media person, Danny. I\u2019m literally an international arms dealer and mercenary. But now I\u2019m the face of the biggest social media post in human history.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t Also, let\u2019s not brush over that whole \u201cspying on African and Arab leaders” thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThis one, go figure, is also not exactly immediately verifiable. But there is solid evidence of Seaver\u2019s travels to the Middle East and Africa, and evidence that he spent time with real-deal political leaders. To start, the complaint notes that Seaver worked for private military contractors during the Iraq War, and his personal Facebook contains several photos from his time in the region. (Plus one of him and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.) According to his LinkedIn, he worked as a military police officer in the U.S. Army during the late 1990s before joining a private security firm, Phoenix Consulting Group, where he worked from 1999 to 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSeaver\u2019s Facebook also contains images from various trips to Africa for private security gigs. In 2017, for instance, he accompanied journalist Peter Greenberg to Rwanda and \u201cembedded\u201d with officers protecting president Paul Kagame. Other posts indicate a handful of trips to East Africa in the early 2020s, including a 2022 visit to Tanzania, where Seaver said he helped \u201caugment the security\u201d of President Samia Suluhu Hassan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tAlright. Well. So, uh, it seems like there was reason for She\u2019s Alive and Nozell to take these alleged threats seriously? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tThat\u2019s certainly what the complaint indicates. It described Seaver\u2019s alleged actions as \u201cnot ordinary workplace disputes or heated words,\u201d but \u201cdeliberate threats from a self-proclaimed heavily armed, former security operative with a military-contractor background.\u201d It added that many Parton staffers and partners were \u201cafraid to come to work or have resigned entirely because they do not feel safe.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tUltimately, Seaver\u2019s allegedly \u201cterrorizing conduct\u201d led She\u2019s Alive to fire him and SAPS on Sept. 16. Along with noting the employees who \u201cresigned rather than risk retribution,\u201d the complaint claims that She\u2019s Alive has since been \u201cforced to retain private security for its own personnel, including at their homes, to protect against an attack.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSo, what\u2019s going on now?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tOn the legal side, She\u2019s Alive\u2019s request for a temporary restraining order was promptly granted<\/a> on Wednesday, Sept. 23. An injunction hearing has also been scheduled for Oct. 7. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\tSeaver, for his part, has not commented on the matter directly, but one of Parton\u2019s sisters, Freida Parton,, did share a statement on Wednesday. On Instagram<\/a>, she insisted there was \u201cno feud within our family,\u201d adding, \u201cNo one among the Parton\/Owens family is fighting over Dolly\u2019s estate. We all love Bryan, just as we all love each other.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A dispute between Parton’s longtime manager and nephew\/security head has erupted one month after the country legend’s 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