She faces up to 20 years in prison for the brazen scheme. A Missouri woman has pleaded guilty to a scheme to defraud Elvis Presley's family of millions and steal their ownership of Graceland, the Department of Justice has said. Lisa Jeanine Findley, 53, orchestrated a fraudulent sale of the estate, where Presley is buried, by falsely claiming that Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie, had pledged Graceland as collateral for a loan that she failed to repay before her death in 2023, according to the DOJ.
![[Riley Keough inherited the estate after her mother’s death]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/05/28/22/GettyImages-1474007453.jpg)
Findley is accused of using a fake company, forged documents and false court filings to carry out the scheme. She threatened to foreclose the property and auction it if the Presley family did not pay the claim against the estate, the department said. Lisa Marie's daughter, Riley Keough, who inherited the estate after her mother's death, sued Naussany Investments – the company Findley used in her attempt to auction Graceland – saying her mother had never taken out the loan and that Naussany was engaged in fraud.
A judge blocked the sale, leading Naussany to withdraw all claims to the property, a popular tourist attraction drawing over 600,000 visitors annually, last May. Findley was arrested in August and charged with identity theft and mail fraud, according to charging documents. She faces up to 20 years in prison.
At the time of Findley’s arrest, prosecutors said she posed as three different people associated with Naussany Investments, falsely claimed Keough owed millions to them and fabricated loan documents with Lisa Marie Presley’s signature. Findley was also responsible for sending fake emails claiming to be a Nigerian scammer targeting the estate, the Department of Justice said.
“As a Memphian, I know that Graceland is a national treasure,” US Attorney Kevin Ritz of Tennessee’s western district said. “This defendant allegedly used a brazen scheme to try to defraud the Presley family of their interest in this singularly important landmark.”.
Officials said Findley had gone by many different names, including Lisa Howell, Gregory Naussany, Kurt Naussany, Lisa Jeanine Sullins, and Carolyn Williams. Presley purchased the property for $102,500 in 1957, the same year he released hits such as ‘All Shook Up’ and ‘Blue Christmas’.
