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Missouri woman charged with Graceland auction and foreclosure fraud

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A Missouri woman was arrested Friday morning and charged in connection with the attempted foreclosure at Graceland, the former home of music star Elvis Presley, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release Friday. Friday also marks the anniversary of Presley's death.

Lisa Jeanine Findley – who, according to the Justice Department, used aliases such as Lisa Holden, Lisa Howell, Gregory Naussany, Kurt Naussany, Lisa Jeanine SSullins and Carolyn Willaims – was charged in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

The 30-page criminal complaint accuses Findley of aggravated identity theft and mail fraud.

“As alleged in the complaint, the defendant engineered a fraudulent sale of Graceland, falsely claiming that Elvis Presley's daughter had pledged the historic landmark as collateral for a loan that she was unable to repay before her death,” Nicole M. Argentieri, assistant attorney general and chief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, said in a statement. “As part of the brazen scheme, we allege that the defendant created numerous false documents and attempted to extort compensation from the Presley family. Now she faces federal court. The Criminal Division and its partners are determined to hold fraudsters accountable.”

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee Kevin Ritz, who has spent most of his life in Memphis and was nominated to a federal judgeship by President Joe Biden, called the plot “outrageous” and said the Justice Department would “vigorously prosecute anyone who commits financial crimes or identity theft.”

Beginning on May 6, Naussany Investments posted three foreclosure notices citing a public auction of the historic Memphis property. On May 22, the foreclosure sale was halted by Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins following a hearing in Shelby County Chancery Court.

Following the May 24 hearing, Memphis-based law firm Morton & Germany filed the court-ordered temporary restraining order. Morton & Germany represents Riley Keough and The Promenade Trust, which owns the Graceland estate. Keough is the daughter of the late Lisa Marie Presley. Morton & Germany filed a counterclaim regarding the sale, saying the foreclosure claims were fraudulent.

That email was riddled with grammatical errors. In addition, neither the Shelby County Chancery Court nor the offices of Morton & Germany had been in touch with representatives of Naussany Investments. On May 25, The Commercial Appeal received a second email from an alleged Kurt Naussany, who is named in the original lawsuit along with a certain Carolyn Williams.

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This second email was written in Spanish and claimed that the alleged company Naussany Investments was the “Nigeria Yahoo ring leader.” The New York Times and The Daily Memphian also reported receiving similar emails from Kurt Naussany. The emails to other media outlets were written in other languages ​​and contained slightly different details, but still claimed responsibility for predatory and fraudulent behavior.

According to the Justice Department, all of the names associated with Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC were actually Findley's, and “after the plot received worldwide media attention, Findley allegedly wrote to representatives of Elvis Presley's family, the Tennessee State Court, and the media to falsely claim that the person responsible for the plot was a Nigerian identity thief residing in Nigeria.”

“Fame and money attract criminals who seek to capitalize on another person's celebrity status,” Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Criminal Investigations Group said in the statement. “In this case, Ms. Findley allegedly took advantage of the very public and tragic events in the Presley family to exploit the name and financial status of the heirs to the Graceland estate and attempt to steal what rightfully belongs to the Presley family for her own personal gain.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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