Plan to auction Elvis’ Graceland abandoned as potentially fraudulent sale lands on FBI radar
They’re all shook up now.
The company looking to auction off Elvis Presley’s Graceland has abandoned its plans to sell the iconic estate after a Tennessee judge blocked the move earlier this week and the potentially fraudulent sale landed on the FBI’s radar.
A representative for Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC said it would withdraw its claims over the property Wednesday, shortly after a judge issued an injunction halting the foreclosure and hinted that Elvis’ granddaughter Riley Keough would likely win her lawsuit against the company.
Gregory Naussany, whose role with the firm was not immediately clear, told Reuters on Wednesday that the company would “be withdrawing all claims with prejudice” in the case, which centers on a $3.8 million loan that the company claims it gave Elvis’ daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, before her death in January 2023.
According to Naussany, the decision to not pursue the auction was made after consulting with lawyers and concluding the firm would have to file legal actions in multiple states, since the alleged loan was secured in Florida.
The news comes as FBI agents have reportedly contacted Keough’s camp about potentially launching an investigation into the alleged fraud, TMZ reported.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation has also been contacted, and those involved believe they know who was behind the fraudulent auction.
Naussany Investments had planned to hold a foreclosure auction for the famous estate Thursday, claiming that Lisa Marie Presley offered the popular tourist attraction as collateral for the loan.
But Keough, Lisa Marie’s eldest daughter and heir, fiercely contested the sale. She filed a lawsuit this week claiming her mother’s signature on legal papers was forged and the company itself was a “false entity” set up to defraud the estate, which was voted the most popular museum in America in 2023.
In an affidavit attached to Keough’s lawsuit, the notary public listed on Naussany’s documents said she never met Lisa Marie Presley or notarized her signature.
The notary’s statement, Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins said Wednesday, “brings in the question as to the authenticity of the signature” as well as whether the underlying document is fraudulent.
Naussany did not address Keough’s allegations.
Elvis Presley Enterprises, which operates Graceland, said, “As the court has now made clear, there was no validity to the claims. There will be no foreclosure.”
Graceland has been a fixture in Memphis since Elvis bought the estate for $102,500 in 1957, the same year he released the hits “Blue Christmas” and “All Shook Up.”
The sprawling mansion has been preserved as it was when Elvis died there in 1977 at 42.
With Post wires
