‘America’s Got Talent’ Alum Terry Fator’s Mother Sues Him to Dissolve Ties Over Suspicions About Sister’s Death

The mother of America’s Got Talent winner Terry Fator is asking a court to end her mother/son relationship since she believes he is “obstructing” her from investigating the death of Fator’s sister.

According to documents obtained by The Blast, Marie Fator Sligh, 74, sued Fator, 53, accusing him of using his fortune to harass and intimidate her.

Sligh claims her ventriloquist son was obstructing her “from investigating the death of her daughter in Defendant’s home; and for refusing to work with his Mother to resolve their problems privately thereby causing his elderly Mother extreme fear, humiliation, anxiety, embarrassment and financial difficulty.”

Fator’s sister and Sligh’s daughter, Deborah Fator, was found dead in Fator’s Las Vegas home in June 2015. Officials ruled her death a suicide from “multiple drug toxicity.” Deborah Fator was found in her bedroom at Fator’s home in the nude.

Although Deborah Fator’s death was ruled a suicide, Sligh believes there are many suspicious and inconsistent details about her daughter’s death. Sligh claims Fator stopped talking to his sister in 2011, but they reconciled in December 2014, when Deborah Fator moved into Fator’s home.

“Six months after reconciling, and six weeks after Defendant Terry Fator moved his sister to his Las Vegas to live with him, she is found dead in her bedroom at Defendant’s home,” the lawsuit reads.

Sligh also accused Fator of not answering questions about the last days of his sister’s life. She included emails in the lawsuit form Deborah Fator, in which she said she would never commit suicide.

Sligh said the reason why she believes Fator may be covering something up is because their relationship is also fractured. Even though she worked for her son, he cut her off in 2015 and stopped supporting her, even though she had medical expenses.

After Deborah Fator’s death, Sligh claims Fator sued her for $50,000 to get her to stop asking about his sister’s death. Sligh also claims Fator instigated “false charges” filed against her in the 1990s after “she left the religious cult Defendant-Son and his father started – a religious cult that had become sexually abusive.”

Sligh, who said she filed the lawsuit more than three years after her daughter’s death because she did not want to hurt Fator’s career until she had enough with him. She is asking for $1.4 million for elder abuse, emotional distress and harassment, but would drop the request to $975,000 if Fator makes a public apology. She wants the court to “terminate any and all parental ties and relationship” with Fator and wants him ordered to donate $200,000 to her charity for abuse victims.

“Due to Defendant’s past seriously abusive behavior and since Defendant has proven he cannot be trusted, Plaintiff also asks the court to order funds, an amount to be determined later, be placed in a trust account to pay for 24 hour protection so Plaintiff can live the remainder of her life – the few years she has left on earth – in peace without having to live in fear always looking over her shoulder wondering what harm Defendant and the people he is associated with might bring to her,” the lawsuit reads, according to The Blast.

Fator’s representative called the allegations “baseless and defamatory” in a statement to PEOPLE.

“This is not the first time that Ms. Sligh has surfaced with these sorts of baseless and defamatory allegations against Mr. Fator in an effort to extract unwarranted financial concessions from him,” the statement reads. “In the face of similar conduct by Ms. Sligh in the past, on February 6, 2017 the District Court of Clark County Nevada entered a judgment against Ms. Sligh that included a Restraining Order prohibiting her from having any contact with Mr. Fator or appearing within 250 yards of his residence, place of business or place of employment. Mr. Fator has no intention of dignifying Ms. Sligh’s latest unfounded claims with any further comment.”

Fator, a ventriloquist, won America’s Got Talent Season 2. After winning $1 million on the show, he signed a deal at The Mirage in Las Vegas, reportedly worth $100 million over five years.

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