Missouri woman pleads guilty to federal charge in plot to sell Graceland
 [February 26, 2025]
By ADRIAN SAINZ
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Missouri woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to a
federal charge accusing her of concocting a brazen plot to defraud Elvis
Presley’s family by trying to auction off his Graceland mansion and
property before a judge halted the mysterious foreclosure sale.
During a hearing in front of a Memphis federal judge, Lisa Jeanine
Findley pleaded guilty to a charge of mail fraud related to the scheme.
She previously pleaded not guilty to the two-count indictment, which
also includes a count of aggravated identity theft that will now be
dropped.
When asked by the judge if Findley was admitting guilt and accepting
responsibility, she said “Yes.”
Findley will be sentenced on June 18. She would have faced up to 20
years if convicted, but she is expected to receive less than that under
the plea deal.
Findley, of Kimberling City, falsely claimed Presley’s daughter borrowed
$3.8 million from a bogus private lender and had pledged Graceland as
collateral for the loan before her death in January 2023, prosecutors
said when she was charged in August 2024. She then threatened to sell
Graceland to the highest bidder if Presley’s family didn’t pay a $2.85
million settlement, according to authorities.
Findley posed as three different people allegedly involved with the fake
lender, fabricated loan documents, and published a fraudulent
foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper announcing the auction of
Graceland in May 2024, prosecutors said. A judge stopped the sale after
Presley’s granddaughter sued.
Experts were baffled by the attempt to sell off one of the most storied
pieces of real estate in the country using names, emails and documents
that were quickly suspected to be phony.
Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 and draws
hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. A large Presley-themed
entertainment complex across the street from the museum is owned by
Elvis Presley Enterprises. Presley died in August 1977, at the age of
42.
In May, a public notice for a foreclosure sale of the 13-acre
(5-hectare) estate said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland
museum, owes $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan. Riley
Keough, Presley’s granddaughter and an actor, inherited the trust and
ownership of the home after the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley.
Keough filed a lawsuit claiming fraud, and a judge halted the proposed
auction with an injunction. Naussany Investments and Private Lending —
the bogus lender authorities say Findley created — said Lisa Marie
Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the loan, according to the
foreclosure sale notice. Keough’s lawsuit alleged that Naussany
presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023 and
that Lisa Marie Presley never borrowed money from Naussany.
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This March 13, 2017 photo shows visitors getting ready to tour
Graceland in Memphis, Tenn. The head of the company that controls
Graceland says he is not threatening to move the Memphis,
Tennessee-based tourist attraction centered on the life of singer
Elvis Presley if city officials do not approve an expansion plan
including tax-based incentives. (AP Photo/Beth J. Harpaz, File)
Kimberly Philbrick, the notary whose name is listed on Naussany’s
documents, indicated she never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized
any documents for her, according to the estate’s lawsuit. The judge
said the notary’s affidavit brings into question “the authenticity
of the signature.”
The judge halted the foreclosure sale of the beloved Memphis tourist
attraction, saying Elvis Presley’s estate could be successful in
arguing that a company’s attempt to auction Graceland was
fraudulent.
The Tennessee attorney general’s office had been investigating the
Graceland controversy, then confirmed in June that it handed the
probe over to federal authorities.
A statement emailed to The Associated Press after the judge stopped
the sale said Naussany would not proceed because a key document in
the case and the loan were recorded and obtained in a different
state, meaning “legal action would have to be filed in multiple
states.” The statement, sent from an email address listed in court
documents, did not specify the other state.
After the scheme fell apart, Findley tried to make it look like the
person responsible was a Nigerian identity thief, prosecutors said.
An email sent May 25 to the AP from the same email as the earlier
statement said in Spanish that the foreclosure sale attempt was made
by a Nigerian fraud ring that targets old and dead people in the
U.S. and uses the internet to steal money.
In a statement, Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called
the scheme “nonsense” and praised the work of federal authorities.
“Graceland matters so much to so many people around the world – just
go to Memphis during Elvis Week and listen to all the different
accents and languages of fans who make the pilgrimage,” Skrmetti
said. “All of Tennessee is glad that Graceland remains safely in the
possession of Elvis’s heir and that it will remain a celebrated
Memphis landmark for generations to come.”
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