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Missouri Woman Pleads Guilty in Graceland Fraud Case
A Missouri resident has accepted a plea agreement concerning federal mail fraud charges that involved an attempt to defraud the family of music icon Elvis Presley by trying to auction off the famed Graceland estate. The plea deal, submitted on Tuesday, resulted in the dismissal of a charge for aggravated identity theft.
Lisa Findley was accused by the U.S. Department of Justice of orchestrating a scheme aimed at swindling millions from Presley’s family while unlawfully seeking to seize their ownership stake in Graceland. This arrangement was formalized in the United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee.
The charge of mail fraud carries a potential maximum prison sentence of up to 20 years. However, prosecutors have indicated that they would recommend a sentence of less than five years, according to an article from The New York Times.
Riley Keough, the granddaughter of Elvis Presley, is the current heir to the Graceland estate. After a protracted legal dispute with her grandmother, Priscilla Presley, over inheritance rights, Keough alerted authorities in May regarding Findley’s fraudulent actions. She asserted that Findley’s company, Naussany Investments and Private Lending LLC, had wrongfully placed a lien on the estate, falsely claiming that the late Lisa Marie Presley, Keough’s mother, had collateralized it for a loan amounting to $3.8 million.
As of now, representatives from Graceland and Riley Keough have not provided immediate responses to requests for comments from Rolling Stone.
In a previous statement, Nicole M. Argentieri, the Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, outlined the severity of the allegations. “As part of the brazen scheme, we allege that the defendant created numerous false documents and sought to extort a settlement from the Presley family. Now she is facing federal charges. The Criminal Division and its partners are committed to holding fraudsters to account,” she stated.
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