In Memphis, Tennessee, a woman from Missouri is set to alter her initial not guilty plea regarding federal allegations of a bold scheme aimed at defrauding Elvis Presley’s family. Her alleged plot involved attempting to auction off the iconic Graceland mansion and its surrounding property before judicial intervention prevented a foreclosure sale under mysterious circumstances, according to court documents.
Upcoming proceedings in front of U.S. District Judge John Fowlkes indicate that Lisa Jeanine Findley is expected to change her plea on counts of mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. However, the specific nature of her new plea has yet to be detailed in the records. The court is set to convene on Tuesday morning in Memphis.
Prosecutors claim that Findley, a resident of Kimberling City, falsely asserted that Presley’s daughter had taken a $3.8 million loan from a fraudulent private lender, offering Graceland as collateral prior to her death in January 2023. She allegedly demanded the Presley family pay $2.85 million as a settlement or face the prospect of Graceland being sold off, authorities stated when charges were made in August 2024.
To execute her plan, Findley allegedly impersonated three different individuals supposedly connected to the fictitious lender, concocted fake loan documents, and published a misleading foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper indicating that Graceland would be auctioned in May 2024. The sale was ultimately halted when Presley’s granddaughter took legal action.
Many were astounded by the audacity of attempting to sell such a renowned piece of real estate through evidently false identities, emails, and documents.
Graceland, which began operating as a museum and tourist destination in 1982, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Located across the street is a large Elvis-themed entertainment venue managed by Elvis Presley Enterprises. The legendary Presley passed away in August 1977 at 42 years of age.
In May, a foreclosure sale notice for the 13-acre estate claimed that the Promenade Trust, responsible for the Graceland museum, was in default on a $3.8 million loan from 2018. Presley’s granddaughter, Riley Keough, who inherited the home and trust ownership after Lisa Marie Presley’s death, disputed this claim through a suit asserting fraudulent activity. This led to a judge halting the auction with an injunction.
Authorities alleged that the fabricated lender, Naussany Investments and Private Lending, attempted to assert that Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as loan collateral. The lawsuit from Keough argued that Naussany used false documents in September 2023 and that no loans were ever procured from them by Lisa Marie Presley.
Additionally, Kimberly Philbrick, the notary named in Naussany’s documents, declared she never encountered Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized anything on her behalf. The estate’s lawsuit highlighted this, questioning the validity of the documents involved, prompting the judge to reassess the legitimacy of the signature.
The judge’s suspension of the foreclosure sale underscored the potential success of Presley’s estate in demonstrating the Graceland auction attempt as a fraudulent endeavor.
Following investigation by the Tennessee attorney general’s office, jurisdiction over the Graceland scandal was transferred to federal authorities. Confirmation of this transition occurred in June.
A statement received by email after the suspension indicated that Naussany would not move forward due to complications requiring legal actions in several states, without detailing the additional state involved. After the collapse of the scheme, prosecutors noted that Findley attempted to divert blame by alleging involvement from a Nigerian identity thief. An email dated May 25 claimed, in Spanish, that the foreclosure attempt was the work of a Nigerian fraud ring targeting elderly and deceased individuals in the U.S. using online methods to perpetrate financial theft.
