Woman arrested for stealing Elvis Presley's house

A Missouri woman has been arrested for allegedly attempting to defraud Elvis Presley's family and steal their ownership interest in Graceland, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday (August 16).

The 53-year-old woman, whose name is Lisa Jeanine Findley but who has used numerous aliases, has been charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. She faces a maximum of 20 years in prison on the first count and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years on the second count. She made her first court appearance in Missouri on Friday.

“As alleged in the complaint, the defendant orchestrated a scheme to fraudulently dispose 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,” the assistant attorney general said. Nicole M. ArgentieriChief of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, 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 indictment in federal court. The Criminal Division and its partners are determined to hold fraudsters accountable.”

According to documents filed Thursday (August 15) in U.S. District Court in Tennessee, Findley allegedly posed as three different people associated with a company called Naussany Investments & Private Lending and claimed Presley's daughter Lisa Marie Presley used the famous Memphis mansion as collateral for a $3.8 million loan she was unable to repay. She also allegedly falsified loan documents and forged the signatures of Lisa Marie and a notary public to file a false creditor's claim with the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles and a false deed of trust with the Shelby Country Register's Office in Memphis. The Justice Department also alleges Findley published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in the Memphis daily newspaper. The commercial appeal and announced that Naussany Investments would auction Graceland on May 23.

The attempted auction was quickly halted after Presley's granddaughter and Lisa Marie's daughter Riley Keough – who took over as trustee of Promenade Trust, the company that controls Graceland, after Lisa Marie's death in January 2023 – obtained a court order halting the auction. Shortly thereafter, Findley allegedly wrote to Presley family representatives, the Tennessee state court and the media to falsely claim that the person responsible for the hoax was an identity thief based in Nigeria.

“Fame and money attract criminals who want to capitalize on another person’s celebrity status,” said Eric ShenInspector of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Criminal Investigations Group (USPIS), in a 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 situation of the heirs to the Graceland estate and attempt to steal what rightfully belongs to the Presley family for her own personal gain. Postal inspectors and their law enforcement partners put an end to her alleged plot and protected the Presley family from further harm and stress.”