- Lisa Jeanine Findley, who was arrested and charged in a scheme to sell Elvis Presley’s Graceland, has pleaded guilty to mail fraud
- The Missouri woman allegedly goes by several other aliases and was accused of plotting to defraud Elvis’s family by attempting to auction off his Graceland property before a judge prevented the sale
- She is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18
A Missouri woman who was arrested and chargedin a scheme to sell Elvis Presley’s Graceland has pleaded guilty to mail fraud.
On Tuesday, Feb. 25, Lisa Jeanine Findley — who allegedly goes by several other aliases — pleaded guilty in Memphis to a federal charge accusing her of plotting to defraud Elvis’s family by attempting to auction off his Graceland property before a judge prevented the sale, per the Associated Press.
Per the AP, Findley, 54, of Kimberling City, Missouri, pleaded guilty to mail fraud.
Elvis Presley at Graceland circa 1957. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty
Previously, she pleaded not guilty to two allegations, which also included aggravated identity theft, which will now be dropped.
She is set to be sentenced on June 18. If convicted, Findley could face up to 20 years in prison, however, under the plea deal, she will likely face less time, according to the publication.
Reps for Graceland, Riley Keough and the Assistant District Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee have not yet responded to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
On Aug. 16, 2024, the Office of Public Affairs announced via a press release that federal charges had been filed against Findley — also known as Lisa Holden, Lisa Howell, Gregory Naussany, Kurt Naussany, Lisa Jeanine Sullins, and Carolyn Williams — in connection to an alleged scheme to defraud the Presley family and steal their ownership interest in the famed Memphis property.
Nicole M. Argentieri — Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General and head of the Justice Department’s criminal division — said that Findley was charged in a criminal complaint unsealed following her arrest, which alleged that she “orchestrated a scheme to conduct a fraudulent sale of Graceland” and falsely claimed that Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, “pledged the historic landmark as collateral for a loan that she failed to repay before her death.”
“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,” she added in a statement. “Now she is facing federal charges. The Criminal Division and its partners are committed to holding fraudsters to account.”
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Kevin G. Ritz acknowledged Presley’s Graceland home as a “national treasure” and said that “the Department of Justice will vigorously prosecute anyone who commits financial crimes or identity theft.”
At the time, Findley was charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.
In a 60-page lawsuit from May 2024, Keough, Presley’s granddaughter and the heir to Graceland, condemned a foreclosure sale of her late grandfather’s famed property, calling it “fraudulent.”
Per court documents previously obtained, the Under the Bridge actress sought to block a company named Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC, which was allegedly connected to Findley, from selling Presley’s Memphis estate in a foreclosure auction that was scheduled that week.
In her filing, Keough, 35, alleged that Findley’s alleged company may not even be “a real entity.” Meanwhile, the Office of Public Affairs claimed that the Missouri woman “posed as three different individuals” affiliated with the “fictitious private lender” in order to falsely accuse the late Lisa Marie of borrowing $3.8 million from Naussany Investments in 2018 and pledging Graceland as collateral for the loan that allegedly went unpaid.
Riley Keough; Graceland in October 2016.
Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty; Raymond Boyd/Getty
“To settle the purported claim, Findley allegedly sought $2.85 million from Elvis Presley’s family,” officials claimed. “Findley allegedly fabricated loan documents on which Findley forged the signatures of Elvis Presley’s daughter and a Florida State notary public. Findley then allegedly filed a false creditor’s claim with the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles, and a fake deed of trust with the Shelby County Register’s Office in Memphis.”
The Office of Public Affairs also alleged that Findley “allegedly published a fraudulent foreclosure notice” in the local Memphis newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, to announce that Naussany Investments planned to auction Graceland to the “highest bidder” on May 23. Just hours after Findley’s alleged company dropped all claims on the property, a Tennessee judge ultimately blocked the sale.
According to officials, when Naussany Investments was sued in Tennessee state court to stop the Graceland sale, Findley allegedly “submitted false court filings.” They also claimed that, after the scheme made global headlines, the Missouri native allegedly “wrote to representatives of Elvis Presley’s family, the Tennessee state court, and the media to claim falsely that the person responsible for the scheme was a Nigerian identity thief located in Nigeria.”
