Journalism of Courage
A woman from the US state of Missouri was sentenced to 57 weeks in jail after she was found guilty of defrauding the family of Elvis Presley and auctioning off his Graceland home and property. The woman, identified as Lisa Jeanine Findley, was sentenced to four years and nine months behind bars, plus an additional three years of probation, by District Judge John Fowlkes of the federal court in Memphis.
The 54-year-old was accused of scheming to defraud Presley’s family and illegally sell off his iconic mansion, where the King of Rock and Roll spent his final days.
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.
Findley, who is originally from Oklahoma, tried to pull off an elaborate con job in July 2023, when she, posing as someone named Kurt Naussany, began emailing lawyers for Presley’s granddaughter, actor Riley Keough, claiming that the singer’s late daughter, Lisa Marie Presley had borrowed $3.8 million from a private lender pledging Graceland as collateral before her death in January 2023.
The public notice for the foreclosure sale of the 13-acre (5-hectare) estate said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owed $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan.
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.
Keough filed a lawsuit claiming fraud, and a judge halted the proposed auction with an injunction.
Keough’s lawsuit alleged that Naussany Investments and Private Lending, the supposed private lender, presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023. 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.
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. 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.
In halting the foreclosure sale, the judge said Elvis Presley’s estate could be successful in arguing that a company’s attempt to auction Graceland was fraudulent.
After the scheme fell apart, Findley tried to make it look like the person responsible was a Nigerian identity thief. In emails sent to several US media houses in May 2024, Findley wrote in Spanish that the foreclosure sale attempt was made by a Nigerian fraud ring that targets old and dead people in the US and uses the internet to steal money.
Findley pleaded guilty in February to a charge of mail fraud related to the scheme. She also had been indicted on a charge of aggravated identity theft, but that charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.
