Muri Assunção
New York Daily News
A Missouri woman has been charged with trying to defraud Elvis Presley’s family out of millions of dollars through the bogus sale of Graceland, the King of Rock and Roll’s legendary home in Memphis, Tenn., federal prosecutors said Friday.
Lisa Jeanine Findley, 53, of Kimberling City, was arrested Friday morning — on the 47th anniversary of Presley’s death — in connection with a “brazen scheme” to orchestrate a fraudulent auction of the 13-acre property, which is now a popular tourist destination.
Findley is accused of falsely claiming that Presley’s daughter, the late Lisa Marie Presley, “had pledged the historic landmark as collateral for a loan that she failed to repay before her death,” according to Nicole M. Argentieri, who leads the Justice Department’s criminal division.
Court documents show Findley had allegedly claimed that Lisa Marie, who died in January 2023 at the age of 53, had borrowed $3.8 million in 2018 from a fictitious lender named Naussany Investments & Private Lending.
According to prosecutors, Findley falsely said Presley failed to repay the debt before she died and, in order to settle the claim, she allegedly sought $2.85 million from the Presley family.
Findley is accused of fabricating loan documents, pretending to pose as three different people, and forging the signatures of Lisa Marie and a Florida State notary public named Kimberly Philbrick.
Feds said she also published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a local newspaper, announcing that Naussany Investments planned to auction Graceland to the highest bidder on May 23.
Following that announcement, Lisa Marie’s daughter, Riley Keough, filed a lawsuit seeking a restraining order against the sale, arguing her mother never took out such a loan and that the documents presented by the company were fake.
The 35-year-old Emmy-nominated actress inherited the trust and ownership of the home following her mother’s death.
The foreclosure sale of the iconic property was blocked by a judge on May 22, just one day before the scheduled auction.
Findley allegedly “took advantage of the very public and tragic occurrences in the Presley family as an opportunity to prey on the name and financial status of the heirs to the Graceland estate,” said Eric Shen, inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Criminal Investigations Group.
Findley is charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. If convicted, she faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for identity theft and a maximum penalty of 20 years for mail fraud.
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