Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney HOLLYWOOD, CA - APRIL 23: Stan Lee (L), Keya Morgan and actor Benedict Wong (R) attend the Los Angeles Global Premiere for Marvel Studios? Avengers: Infinity War on April 23, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
Keya Morgan is the 37-year-old historian, producer, writer, director, entrepreneur, and former business manager and caretaker for Marvel Comics founder Stan Lee. Morgan is facing one felony count of false imprisonment of an elder adult, three felony counts of theft, embezzlement, and forgery or fraud against an elder adult, and an additional initial elder abuse misdemeanor count. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.
Morgan started selling real estate in New York at the age of 8 and first gained national attention at 11 years old when he appeared on CNN as a “child business prodigy”. He started the Keya Gallery in New York City in the mid-1990s where he amassed one of the world’s largest collection of rare artifacts from historical figures. Through his business and networking skills, he’s become friends with countless celebrities including Michael Jackson, Barack Obama, Buzz Aldrin, and Al Pacino.
Keya Morgan was also arrested in 2018 on suspicion of filing a false police report, allegedly involving a supposed break-in incident at Lee’s residence.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. He Allegedly Stole Over $5M from Stan Lee
Tainted Love. Lunch with my bro @marilynmanson and the father of Spider-Man @TheRealStanLee Excelsior!!
Keya Morgan first appeared in the public eye in June 2018 when Stan Lee filed a restraining order against him just 3 days after posting a video on social media saying the two were “together and are conquering the world side-by-side.” Although he allegedly took control of Lee’s business affairs and personal life in February 2018, the two were friends dating back to 2016.
According to documents filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in 2018, Morgan embezzled or misappropriated $5 million of assets from Stan Lee. After the allegations were made public, Keya vehemently denied any wrongdoing. “I have a fantastic relationship with him for the past many years as he has stated countless times on the record and I literally saved his life once,” Morgan told TMZ. “I will 100% prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the allegations against me are false.”
2. He’s Good Friends with Countless Celebrities Including Michael Jackson and Buzz Aldrin
Keya Morgan has been tied to some of the most prominent celebrities in history including Michael Jackson, Buzz Aldrin, Barack Obama, and Muhammad Ali just to name a few. In addition to the well-known celebrities, he also has strong relationships with some infamous celebrties including Marina Oswald, Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife, and Marilyn Monroe’s third husband Arthur Miller and first husband James Dougherty.
His affinity for collecting, buying, and selling the rarest historical artifacts has led to him meeting these people and his ability to meet and keep celebrity friends. In a 2011 interview with CNN, Donald Trump Jr. described him as “that rare friend who isn’t the clingy, needy friend.” He lives in Beverly Hills and is constantly socializing at various celebrity hot spots around town.
3. He Owns a Vast Array of Historical Artifacts Including the World’s Largest Collection of Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln Artifacts
Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Overture FilmsNEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 10: TV personality Keya Morgan and actor Federico Castelluccio attend the Righteous Kill after party at Terminal 5 on September 10, 2008 in New York City.
Keya Morgan has been collecting and selling historical artifacts since he was a teenager in the 1990s. He owned a shop on 25th street that was visited by many celebrities including Michael Jackson who called it “a little Smithsonian on 25th Street” and referred to Keya as a “time traveler”. The Keya Gallery has been featured on CNN, Fox News, TIME Magazine, and the New York Times and are on exhibit at the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and the White House.
Morgan owns the world’s largest collections of both Ulysses S. Grant and Abraham Lincoln manuscripts, artifacts, and original photographs. These artifacts have been utilized in numerous documentaries, books, newspapers, and magazines, including the cover of TIME Magazine 3 times. When former President Barack Obama was a Senator in 2005, he asked Keya for permission to use one of his rare Lincoln photos for a column he wrote in Time Magazine titled “”What I See in Lincoln’s Eyes.” Barack convinced Keya to make his collection publicly available online at LincolnImages.com so the public could pay to license them.
4. He’s Been a Vocal Defender of Michael Jackson
Here is the God honest truth about how kids would sleep around Michael Jackson. It was pure, clean and innocent. They loved him. He never had a childhood & he always told me he would see God in children. Does this look that sinister to you?
Since 2014, Keya has tweeted over 400 times about Michael Jackson. The two were friends since the 1990s when they met at Morgan’s antique shop in New York. Keya regularly posts photos, photoshops, and memes about the singer. Recently, most of his content has been in defense of Michael Jackson from his child molestation charges that were most recently detailed in the Leaving Neverland documentary.
He believes Michael Jackson is fully innocent of the crimes he was charged with in 2005. Michael Jackson was charged with child sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy, Jordan Chandler, that allegedly occurred at the singer’s home “Neverland Ranch”. A jury eventually returned a verdict of “not guilty” on all charges. Jackson was forced to pay $22M in a civil lawsuit filed by the Chandler family.
For 15 years Michael Jackson was literally the most police investigated person of the 20th century. Over 100 police from LAPD, NYPD, Santa Barbara PD, FBI, DA, Sheriffs Dep all had him under a microscope. They literally photographed up his ass. How could he hide a crime?
He hired Michael Jackson’s lawyer, who defended Michael in the 2005 trial, to represent him in his elder abuse case involving Stan Lee.
5. He’s Producing a Marilyn Monroe Documentary That Claims Her Suicide Was a Murder
On this day June 1, 1926 Marilyn Monroe, the greatest Hollywood legend was born in a charity ward in Hollywood. Happy birthday beautiful.
Keya Morgan has a self-professed obsession with Marilyn Monroe and owns several of the late actress’ artifacts. “Marilyn Monroe is the most misunderstood character in history,” he told CNN in 2011, “She is as American as apple pie, and she was sweeter than honey.” He also said that he sometimes sleeps next to one of her dresses.
Through his artifact collection and selling business, he befriended her third husband Arthur Miller and later her first husband James Dougherty as well as Jack Clemmons, the first police officer on the scene to her suicide. Morgan claims Clemmons told him that Marilyn’s death was definitely a murder and not a suicide, which led Keya interview over 300 people with first-hand knowledge of details relating to her demise.
He has been producing a documentary titled “Marilyn Monroe: Murder on Fifth Helena Drive” since 2011 that, according to IMDB, is scheduled for release this year. There has been no word on an official release date.