FBI is investigating Graceland 'fraud' after company tried to force sale of Elvis Presley's beloved estate

23/05/2024

Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion was set to go up for auction this week His granddaughter Riley Keough launched a bid to block the sale After a judge stepped in to block it, the FBI are now reportedly probing the sale

The FBI is reportedly investigating the attempted 'fraudulent' sale of Graceland, the former home and burial site of Elvis Presley.

Sources told TMZ that officials at Graceland and people from Riley Keough's camp, who is the sole trustee of her grandfather's estate, have been in touch with the FBI.

The outlet reported that the agency are 'interested' in launching a criminal probe into the sale.

The King of Rock 'n' Roll's Memphis estate was due to go under the hammer this week until Keough, 34, launched a legal bid to block the sale.

Her lawyer Jeff Germany told a court there are 'significant serious allegations regarding the authenticity' of documents supposedly showing that her late mom Lisa Marie Presley borrowed $3.8million using Graceland as collateral.

Sources told TMZ that officials at Graceland and people from Riley Keough 's camp, who is the sole trustee of her grandfather's estate, have been in touch with the FBI

The King of Rock 'n' Roll's Memphis estate was due to go under the hammer this week until Keough, seen here, launched a legal bid to block the sale

The alleged loan was taken through a Missouri company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending.

Germany told the court he had had 'no contact' whatsoever with Nassauny, any lawyers acting on its behalf, or from its supposed boss Kurt Naussany.

That left it a straightforward decision for Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins who said it was in the 'public interest' to uphold a temporary restraining order blocking the proposed Thursday 10am sale on the steps of the courthouse.

'The court will enjoin the sale as requested because the real estate is considered unique under Tennessee law and, in being unique, the loss of the real estate would be considered irreparable harm,' he told the ten-minute hearing.

The one-page fax signed by Gregory E. Naussany and received by the court today, said: 'I respectfully deny the allegations made by Danielle Riley Keough. I believe the claims made against Naussany Investments & Private Lending are unfounded.'

He said his firm was 'prepared to provide evidence and arguments' in its defense when the matter proceeds to trial.

On Wednesday, the mystery lender Gregory Nassauny told DailyMail.com that the case was too complicated and that he had given up the fight for the mansion.

In response to an email sent to an address on the court papers, a man purporting to be Nassauny told DailyMail.com said he was 'withdrawing all claims with prejudice.'

The King of Rock and Roll bought the Graceland estate in 1957 for $102,500, the same year he recorded a slew of iconic hits including 'Blue Christmas' and 'All Shook Up'; seen in 1956

Attorney, Jeff Germany, addresses the media after a Shelby County Judge temporarily blocks the sale of Graceland

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Due to the deed of trust not being recorded and the loan being obtained in different state, legal action would have to be filed in multiple states and Naussany Investments & Private Lending will not acquire to proceed,' he said in the email.

'That comes from consultation of the lawyers for the company. There was no harm meant on Ms. Keough for her mothers LMP mis habits and mis managing of money (sic).'

Asked to clarify whether he was abandoning all efforts to pursue the supposed $3.8 million he claims to have loaned the late Lisa Marie Presley, Nassauny said in a follow up: 'Per counsel it's in the best interest as multiple filings would have to be filed in 3 different states. The company will no longer comment.'

Elvis Presley's historic house Graceland set to be sold off at a foreclosure auction this week - as his granddaughter Riley Keough challenges 'fraudulent' sale

The legal skirmish comes after a foreclosure notice published online on May 12 declared that Graceland and its 13-acre grounds would be auctioned off 'to the highest and best bidder for cash.'

It claimed that Lisa Marie, Elvis's daughter, had borrowed millions of dollars in 2015 from Naussany Investments & Private Lending, a firm that doesn't appear in any state or nationwide corporation searches.

The shadowy outfit claimed that Lisa Marie, who died in January 2023, aged 54, defaulted on the loan.

Naussany intended to claw back the funds by selling off Graceland, its note said.

Prior to Wednesday's hearing, lawyers for the Mad Max: Fury Road actress obtained a temporary restraining order to block the 'non-judicial sale', arguing that the supposed loan never happened and the documents were 'forgeries'.

Keough's suit said Kurt Naussany had sent her numerous emails seeking to collect on her mom's supposed debt, attaching a standard promissory note and a 2018 deed of trust for Graceland, both bearing Lisa Marie's signature.

In an accompanying affidavit, Kimberly Philbrick, a notary based in Duval County, Florida, whose name appears on both documents, insisted she had 'never met Lisa Marie nor notarized any document for her.'

The wording on the deed of trust also included an incongruous reference to 'online notarization' which wasn't authorized in Florida or mentioned in Duval County paperwork until 2020 – two years after the deed was supposedly drawn up.

Elvis Presley strolls the grounds of his Graceland estate circa 1957

Fans wait in line outside Graceland in 2017, in Memphis, Tennessee

'While the documents bear signatures that look like the signatures of Lisa Marie Presley, Lisa Marie Presley did not in fact sign the documents,' the suit insisted.

'The purported note and deed of trust are products of fraud and those individuals who were involved in the creation of such documents are believed to be guilty of the crime of forgery.'

This week's legal drama marked the second time Keough has gone to court to establish herself as Graceland's owner after a 2023 legal spat with her grandmother Priscilla Presley, 78, Elvis's ex-wife.

They tussled over a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie's will that removed Priscilla as a trustee but a judge ruled the paperwork was legit and that Keough was the Suspicious Minds crooner's sole trustee.

Elvis bought the eight-bed Graceland estate in 1957 for $102,500, the same year he released Jailhouse Rock, one of 18 songs of his that went to number one.

He and Priscilla had Lisa Marie nine months to the day after their 1967 wedding and she spent her earliest years at her father's sprawling compound.

Fans seen visiting the grave of Lisa Marie and Graceland meditation pool during her memorial on January 22, 2023

Riley's lawsuit claims her mother did not borrow money from the company, and that her signatures on the deed are forgeries; (L-R) Lisa, Priscilla Presley, and Riley seen in 2022

Elvis and Priscilla divorced six years later but Lisa Marie would frequently return to Memphis to stay and would eventually inherit Graceland after her dad died there in 1977.

The property was eventually turned into a money-spinning tourist attraction hosting a museum, $200 VIP tours and candlelit vigils to mark each anniversary of the rock and roll icon's death, attracting 650,000 visitors annually and soaring in value to $100 million.

Lisa Marie sold off 85 percent of the business side of her father's estate in 2005 but kept Graceland itself along with her his personal effects, turning its management over to an entertainment company.

Elvis, his parents, Lisa Marie, and her son Benjamin Keough are all interred at Graceland.

Benjamin took his own life in July 2020 at age 27 following a lengthy battle with drug addiction and depression, echoing his mother's troubled history of opioid abuse.