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Federal prosecutors said a Missouri woman was arrested and charged Friday with orchestrating a scheme to swipe Graceland from the descendants of music legend Elvis Presley.
The Justice Department said police took Lisa Jeanine Findley, 53, into custody on mail fraud and aggravated identity theft charges after she falsely claimed possession of the Memphis, Tennessee, estate due to Presley’s late daughter failing to repay a $2.85 million debt.
Court documents said Ms. Findley, of Kimberling City, Missouri, posed as various representatives from a sham investment firm and threatened to foreclose on Graceland as a way of pressuring the family to settle the debt.
“This defendant allegedly used a brazen scheme to try to defraud the Presley family of their interest in this singularly important landmark,” U.S. Attorney Kevin G. Ritz for the Western District of Tennessee said in a release. “Of course, all homeowners deserve to have their property protected from fraud, and the Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute anyone who commits financial crimes or identity theft.”
Court documents said Ms. Findley pretended to be various people from the fake company, Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC, and claimed Lisa Marie Presley put up the historic landmark as collateral when taking out a $3.8 million loan in 2018.
Once Lisa Marie Presley allegedly reneged on the loan, Ms. Findley sought to collect the multimillion-dollar debt from the Presley family, authorities said. Lisa Marie died in January 2023.
Prosecutors said Ms. Findley, who went by multiple other aliases to carry out the scheme, fabricated loan documents by forging Lisa Marie Presley’s signature and that of a Florida notary public.
She also filed a phony creditor’s claims in Los Angeles and submitted a fake deed of trust with the Shelby County Register’s Office in Memphis, according to the criminal complaint.
Ms. Findley is accused of having Naussany Investments publish a foreclosure notice in The Commercial Appeal, a Memphis newspaper, in May. When the Presley family sued to stop the foreclosure and auction, the defendant submitted false court filings.
Prosecutors said Ms. Findley claimed a Nigerian identity thief was behind the scheme after it ballooned into a global media story.
If convicted, Ms. Findley could face up to 20 years behind bars.
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