Joe McConnell
A Missouri woman is accused of trying to defraud Elvis Presley’s family of millions of dollars and stealing the family’s share of ownership in Graceland, the American singing legend’s family home.
Lisa Jeanine Findley, who used several aliases, was arrested on charges of orchestrating a scheme to conduct a fraudulent sale of Graceland, a home located in Memphis, Tennessee.
Ms. Findley, 53, has been charged federally with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft and is scheduled to appear in court Friday. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.
The Presley family has not publicly commented on the allegations.
The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that Ms. Findley impersonated three different individuals associated with a fictitious private lender called Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC (Naussany Investments).
The Justice Department alleges that the woman falsely claimed that Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie Presley, who died in January 2023, had borrowed $3.8 million (£3 million) from Naussany Investments, pledged Graceland as collateral for the loan and failed to repay the debt.
According to the Department of Justice, Mrs Findley is said to have asked Presley’s family for $2.85 million (£2.2 million) to settle the alleged debt.
Among the fraudulent acts she is accused of are allegedly fabricating loan documents, forging the signature of Elvis Presley’s daughter, and publishing a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper announcing that Naussany intended to auction Graceland on May 23.
When the Presley family sued Naussany Investments in an attempt to prevent the sale of Graceland, Ms. Findley also filed false documents in court, the Justice Department said.
The Graceland auction attracted international attention earlier this year after Presley’s niece, actress Riley Keough, claimed the loan paperwork was fraudulent. She claimed her mother’s signature was forged.
Ms. Keough inherited Graceland, which has long been a public museum honoring Mr. Presley, and much of Presley’s estate after the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, last year.
He filed a lawsuit to stop the planned auction, and a Tennessee judge agreed.
At the time, Graceland and Elvis Presley Enterprises released a statement to the BBC: “As the court has now made clear, the claims had no validity.”
Elvis purchased Graceland in 1957 and lived there until his death two decades later.
The 14-acre complex opened to the public as a music history park in the early 1980s. Now officially a National Historic Landmark, it attracts about 600,000 visitors a year, according to the venue.
Elvis died at Graceland and was buried there, as were his parents, daughter Lisa Marie Presley and her son, Benjamin Keough.
Attempts by the BBC to find a lawyer for Mrs Findley were unsuccessful.
She appeared briefly in court on Friday and was arrested in Greene County, Missouri.
