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Authorities arrested a 53-year-old Missouri woman on Friday for allegedly attempting to defraud Elvis Presley's family out of millions of dollars.
Lisa Jeanine Findley was charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. She was behind the plot that put Graceland up for foreclosure in May, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
“As alleged in the complaint, 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 Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division. “As part of the brazen scheme, we allege that the defendant created numerous false documents and sought to extort a settlement from the Presley family. Now she is facing federal charges. The Criminal Division and its partners are committed to holding fraudsters to account.”
In May, a Tennessee judge halted the planned sale of Elvis Presley‘s historic Graceland mansion.
Chancellor JoeDae L. Jenkins said at an injunction hearing at Shelby County Tennessee Chancery Court on Wednesday morning that the proposed auctioning of the property on Thursday will not go ahead after the Rock ‘n' Roll legend's granddaughter claimed documents pertaining to the case were fraudulent.
The judge said he considered the real estate unique to the state and that there must be time for adequate discovery, and for the defense to address claims made about the sale.
A company claims that Lisa Marie, Elvis's only child, took out a $3.8 million loan but never paid it back having put the estate up as collateral via a signed Deed of Trust in 2018.
According to Fox News, the company, called Naussany Investments and Private Lending, claims Lisa Marie Presley never paid back that money before she died last year and the firm initiated plans for Elvis' former home in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as its surrounding acreage on Elvis Presley Boulevard, to be sold to the highest bidder at a foreclosure sale.
Elvis' granddaughter, Riley Keough, is the sole heir to the property and has asked a court for an injunction preventing the sale, which was initially scheduled to go ahead Thursday.
Keough called the move a scam, with forged documents and a fake shell company making the claim.
Keough said in a 60-page lawsuit against Naussany Investments that her mother never borrowed any money from the company and that Presley's signatures on the deed are forgeries. Keough also alleges that Naussany Investments is not a real entity.
The mansion, which is now a museum, is located in the Whitehaven area of Memphis.
Elvis and his daughter Lisa Marie Presley are buried on the property.
