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The Department of Justice has charged a Missouri woman in connection with a scheme to take ownership of Elvis Presley’s former home, Graceland, and extort his descendants for millions of dollars, the department announced on Friday.
The date happened to coincide with the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death in 1977. Presley was found unresponsive at Graceland that day, 47 years ago, at the age of 42.
The 53-year-old, Lisa Jeanine Findley, was arrested on Friday morning for allegedly coordinating the attempted foreclosure of Graceland by claiming that Presley’s late daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, had put Graceland up as collateral on a loan she failed to repay before she died in 2023.
“The defendant orchestrated a scheme to conduct a fraudulent sale of Graceland, falsely claiming that Elvis Presley’s daughter had pledged the historic landmark as collateral for a loan that she failed to repay before her death,” said Nicole M. Argentieri, principal deputy assistant attorney general at the Justice Department.
Findley has been charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. If convicted, she could spend a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft and a maximum of 20 years for mail fraud.
According to prosecutors, she has gone by the aliases Lisa Holden, Lisa Howell, Lisa Jeanine Sullins, Carolyn Williams, Gregory Naussany and Kurt Naussany.
In May, an individual who represented themselves as being associated with a fake private lender company known as Naussany Investments, which had attempted to take over Graceland through foreclosure, responded to an email from The New York Times and allegedly revealed themselves to be a fraudster based in Nigeria.
“I am the one who creates trouble,” the email writer said, suggesting their deep involvement on the dark web and clandestine networks throughout the U.S. “We figure out how to steal. That’s what we do.”
Court documents say that Findley represented herself as various employees of Naussany Investments and claimed that Lisa Marie Presley had borrowed $2.8 million from the company. Prosecutors said the loan never existed.
By filing false foreclosure documents, deeds and claims in court, Findley tried to get the Presley family to hand over $2.85 million to Naussany Investments, or they would auction off the property to the highest bidder.
However, Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter, actor Danielle Riley Keough, sued to retain ownership of the property, which she had inherited on her mother’s death. Keough claimed the loan was not legitimate and that Naussany Investments was “a false entity.” Keough’s lawyers also claimed signatures of Ms. Presley and a notary on some of Naussany’s documents had been forged.
After the foreclosure of Graceland was blocked by a Chancery Court in Tennessee following Keough’s lawsuit, Naussany ceased all attempts at foreclosure. The court had determined that the foreclosure auction would irreparably harm Keough and postponed the foreclosure until it could be determined who maintained rights to the property.
Earlier this summer, the Tennessee attorney general’s office handed over its investigation to the Justice Department.
The Postal Inspection Service also reportedly played a role in the investigation, making a connection between Naussany Investments’ business address at a post office in Hollister, Missouri, near Findley’s home, where she rented P.O. Box 1015. The rental application had been submitted under the name “Lisa Holden,” one of Findley’s aliases.
On Friday, law enforcement officials expressed surprise at the audacity of a fraudster to target such a high-profile property.
U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Kevin G. Ritz said in a statement, “As a Memphian, I know that Graceland is a national treasure.”
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