A Missouri woman, Lisa Findley, was arrested on Friday for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to defraud Elvis Presley’s family and steal the Graceland estate. Federal prosecutors claim that Findley, 53, posed as multiple associates of a fake private lender called Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC. The company falsely asserted ownership of Graceland after the death of Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie, last year.
According to the criminal complaint, Findley alleged that Lisa Marie had pledged Graceland as collateral for a $3.8 million loan in 2018. Findley then threatened to foreclose on the property and put it up for auction. Riley Keough, Lisa Marie’s oldest child and Presley’s granddaughter, contested Naussany Investments’ claim to Graceland.
Keough argued in a lawsuit that the company was not real and had produced falsified documents detailing the supposed loan. Prosecutors allege that Findley filed a false creditor’s claim, created a fake deed, and forged the signatures of Lisa Marie and a Florida-based notary while attempting to foreclose on Graceland. She allegedly sought $2.85 million from the Presley family as part of the scheme.
Graceland forgery scheme allegations
Findley denied Keough’s claims by suggesting a Nigerian identity thief was behind the falsified documents, according to prosecutors. She is charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft and faces up to 22 years in prison if convicted on both counts.
A Tennessee judge blocked Naussany Investments’ auction of Graceland in May, stating that the estate being sold outside the Presley family “would be considered irreparable harm.”
Findley was arrested on August 16, which coincidentally marks 47 years since Elvis Presley’s death. She made a brief court appearance in Missouri and was ordered to be transferred to Tennessee, where she was indicted. The Florida notary public mentioned in the fake documents, Kimberly Philbrick, expressed distress over her identity being used without her knowledge.
“Where did they get my name? That’s the million-dollar question,” Philbrick said. “My life was uprooted.
My identity was stolen, too.”
Findley remains in jail in Missouri and will be represented by a federal public defender at least initially as her case continues to unfold.
- NYTimes.”Missouri Woman Charged in Scheme to Defraud Presleys and Sell Graceland”.
- Forbes.”Missouri Woman Charged For Alleged Elaborate Scheme To Steal Elvis Presley’s Graceland Estate”.
- Go.”Missouri woman arrested in alleged scheme to defraud Elvis Presley’s family through Graceland sale”.