Police reports of Bryan Seaver’s past arrest have surfaced amid the feud over Dolly Parton’s estate.
According to a report from Oct. 6, 2000, police arrested Seaver, Parton’s nephew and longtime head of security, for assault after a fight at the Nashville bar Banana Joe’s. The alleged victim said in the report that Seaver tried to “take a swing at him.” Seaver’s punch didn’t land, but police still took him into custody. Police dismissed his case later that year.
On Sept. 16, Parton’s manager Danny Nozell fired and sued Seaver for allegedly launching “an obscene, deliberate and escalating campaign of threats” against the estate to acquire estate funds. Nozell and Pinnacle Bank have managed the Parton estate’s administration and operations since Parton’s death at age 80 on Aug. 25.
Nozell filed the lawsuit through She’s Alive, LLC, which Parton created to protect her legacy after she died. In the filing, he detailed Seaver’s alleged threats and requested a temporary restraining order, which courts granted on Sept. 22. He also included a series of emails and text messages from Seaver.
“I’m literally an international arms dealer and mercenary,” the messages show Seaver saying. “All I do is warfare. Everyone needs to be worried about what I might do,” and “Her money better be bigger than I can make elsewhere or I’m going to f--- everyone.” Seaver later said that he was just “grieving.”
In other exchanges, Seaver described himself as “a killer.” According to the New York Times, Seaver also claimed he sold $27 million in arms to the Haitian police on the day Parton died. His threats to the estate reportedly began right before Parton’s death.
Seaver has denied the extortion claims and said he and his team “remain unshakably resolved” to protect the Parton family and “refuse to be intimidated” by Nozell’s actions.
Seaver clarified that his messages were real and accurate, but said that Nozell took them out of context—and that the content doesn’t constitute threats.
“I am a career soldier and military contractor and do conduct arms deals for foreign governments. I am a security professional and I am a killer,” he said. “However, nothing in this lawsuit were threats and most of the comments I stand by.”
Parton’s sister Freida, also a country singer, defended Seaver and denied any feud between Seaver and the rest of the family on social media on Sept. 23.
“I’ll say this and this only,” she posted on Instagram. “No one among the Parton/Owens family is fighting over Dolly’s estate. We all love Bryan, just as we all love each other. I love you all!!”
