Woman charged in alleged scheme to steal Graceland from Presley family

A Missouri woman is accused of trying to defraud Elvis Presley’s family of millions of dollars and steal the family’s ownership interest in Graceland, the US singing legend’s family home.

Lisa Jeanine Findley, who used a variety of aliases, was arrested for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to conduct a fraudulent sale of Graceland, located in Memphis, Tennessee home.

Ms Findley, 53, was federally charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft and was expected to appear in court Friday. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.

The Presley family has not publicly commented on the charges.

The US Justice Department claims Ms Findley posed as three different individuals associated with a fictitious private lender called Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC (Naussany Investments).

The DOJ alleges she falsely claimed Elvis Presley’s daughter – Lisa Marie Presley, who died in January 2023 – had borrowed $3.8m (£3m) from Naussany Investments, pledged Graceland as collateral for the loan and failed to repay the debt.

Ms Findley allegedly was seeking $2.85m ($2.2m GBP) from Presley’s family to settle the alleged debt, according to the DOJ.

Among the fraudulent actions she’s accused of are allegedly fabricating loan documents, forging the signature of Elvis Presley’s daughter and publishing a fraudulent foreclosure notice in one of Memphis’s daily newspapers, announcing that Naussany planned to auction Graceland on 23 May.

When the Presley family sued Naussany Investments attempting to stop the sale of Graceland, Ms Findley also allegedly submitted false court filings, the DOJ said.

The auction to sell Graceland sparked international attention earlier this year, after Presley’s granddaughter, actress Riley Keough, claimed that the paperwork on the loan was fraudulent. She said that her mother’s signature was forged.

Ms Keough inherited Graceland, which has long been a public museum honoring Mr Presley, and much of Presley’s estate after her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, died last year.

She filed a legal action to stop the planned auction and a Tennessee judge agreed.

At the time, Graceland and Elvis Presley Enterprises issued a statement to the BBC: “As the court has now made clear, there was no validity to the claims.”

Elvis bought Graceland mansion in 1957 and lived there until he died two decades later.

The 14-acre compound was opened to the public as a music history park, in the early 1980s. Now officially a National Historic Landmark, it attracts roughly 600,000 visitors a year, according to the venue.

Elvis died at Graceland and is buried there, as are his parents, daughter Lisa Marie Presley, and her son, Benjamin Keough.

The BBC’s efforts to reach an attorney for Ms Findley were unsuccessful.

On Friday, she made a brief court appearance and was booked into jail in Greene County, Missouri.