WASHINGTON (AP) — A Missouri woman has been arrested on suspicion of plotting to defraud the family of Elvis Presley by attempting to auction off his Graceland mansion and property before a judge halted the mysterious foreclosure, the Justice Department said Friday.
Lisa Jeanine Findley, 53, of Kimberling City, Missouri, falsely claimed that Presley’s daughter had borrowed $3.8 million from a fake private lender and pledged Graceland as collateral for the loan. She forged loan documents, attempted to extort $2.85 million from Presley’s family to settle the matter and published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper announcing that Graceland would be auctioned off to the highest bidder, prosecutors said.
Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Across from the museum is a large Presley-themed entertainment complex owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises.
“Ms. Findley allegedly took advantage of the very public and tragic events in the Presley family to exploit the name and financial situation of the heirs to the Graceland estate and to attempt to steal what rightfully belongs to the Presley family for her personal gain,” said Eric Shen, inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Criminal Investigations Group.
An attorney for Findley, who used several aliases, was not listed in court documents and a phone number was not immediately available in public records. An email seeking comment to an address prosecutors said Findley used in the plot was not immediately returned.
In May, a public notice about the foreclosure of the 12-acre estate said the Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owes $3.8 million because it failed to repay a 2018 loan. Riley Keough, Presley’s granddaughter and actress, inherited the trust and ownership of the home after the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, last year.
Keough filed a fraud lawsuit, and a judge halted the planned auction with a temporary restraining order. Naussany Investments and Private Lending said Lisa Marie Presley used Graceland as collateral for the loan, the notice of the forced sale said. Keough’s lawsuit alleged that Naussany submitted falsified documents regarding the loan in September 2023 and that Lisa Maria Presley never borrowed money from Naussany.
Kimberly Philbrick, the notary whose name is listed on Naussany’s documents, said she never met Lisa Marie Presley or notarized any documents for her, according to the estate’s lawsuit. Judge Jenkins said the notary’s affidavit calls into question “the authenticity of the signature.”
In May, a judge halted the foreclosure of the popular Memphis tourist attraction, saying Elvis Presley’s heirs could succeed by arguing that a company’s attempt to auction Graceland was fraudulent.
The Tennessee Attorney General’s Office investigated the Graceland case and confirmed in June that it had turned the investigation over to federal authorities.
In an email to the Associated Press after the judge halted the sale, Naussany said he would not proceed with the sale because a key document in the case and the loan were registered and obtained in another state, meaning “action would have to be brought in multiple states.” The statement, sent from an email address listed in court documents, did not identify the other state.
An email sent to the AP on May 25 from the same address said in Spanish that the foreclosure attempt was carried out by a Nigerian fraud ring that targets the elderly and dead in the United States and uses the Internet to steal money.
Mattise reported from Nashville, Tennessee.
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