Months after a Judge halted foreclosure of Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate due to fraud allegations. Authorities have arrested the woman who allegedly defrauded Presley’s family. Federal authorities arrested 53-year-old Lisa Jeanine Findley, who is also known by many aliases, including Lisa Holden, in Kimberling City, Missouri, on Friday morning.
Findley is charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. If convicted, she faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the first count and a minimum of two years for the second. She is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri on Friday to answer the government’s criminal complaint.
The U.S. Department of Justice accused Findley of “masterminding an alleged plot to defraud Elvis Presley’s family of millions of dollars and steal the family’s ownership interest in Graceland.” Presley’s granddaughter Riley Keough inherited the estate after a bitter dispute with her grandmother Priscilla. Keough brought the alleged plot to a judge’s attention in May, claiming that Findley’s Naussany Investments and Private Lending LLC had placed a lien on the estate under the pretense that the late Lisa Marie Presley (Keough’s mother) had used it as collateral for a $3.8 million loan. Findley’s name, under the pseudonym Lisa Holden, became public a month later following an NBC News investigation.
“As part of the brazen scheme, we allege that the defendant created numerous false documents and attempted to extort compensation from the Presley family,” Nicole M. Argentieri, assistant attorney general and chief of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, said in a statement. “Now she faces federal indictment. The Criminal Division and its partners are committed to holding fraudsters accountable.”
A spokesman for Keough did not immediately respond to The Rolling Stones Request for comment.
Federal authorities allege that Findley used three different aliases under the guise of Naussany Investments to create a ruse that would suggest Lisa Marie had borrowed millions from the dubious company in 2018 and defaulted on the loan. Using the fake loan document, which federal authorities say bore forged signatures from Lisa Marie and a Florida notary, Findley then allegedly demanded $2.85 million from the Presley estate.
Federal authorities say she backed up those claims with a fake creditor demand in Los Angeles and a fake trust deed in Memphis. She also allegedly published a foreclosure notice in the Memphis newspaper. The commercial appeal. An auction was scheduled to take place on May 23. The Justice Department also accuses Findley of filing false court documents after Presley’s estate sued her and attributed her alleged actions to a Nigerian identity thief.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI’s Memphis Field Office are investigating the case. The FBI’s Kansas City Field Office is assisting in the investigation.
When NBC News tracked down Findley in June, she claimed she was the victim of identity theft. She said she had “no idea what the reporter was accusing her of” and subsequently filed a cease-and-desist order against the network.
Presley bought the Graceland estate, built in 1900, in 1957 for $102,500. He died in the villa, which opened as a tourist attraction in the early 1980s, on August 16, 1977 – exactly 47 years before Findley’s arrest.
