A Missouri lady has been sentenced to 57 months in jail for fraudulently making an attempt to unload Elvis Presley‘s Graceland.
Lisa Jeanine Findley, 54, was sentenced in federal courtroom in Memphis, TN to 4 years and 9 months behind bars for making an attempt to make use of a faux firm and cast paperwork to unload Presley’s former residence.
The choose described Findley’s actions as a “wild scheme” and “extremely refined,” based on WREG, the native Fox station in Memphis.
When Findley was charged in August 2024, prosecutors accused her of falsely claiming Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie, borrowed $3.8 million from a bogus personal lender and had used Graceland as collateral for the mortgage earlier than her dying in January 2023.
Authorities mentioned Findley then threatened to promote Graceland to the very best bidder if Presley’s household didn’t pay a $2.85 million settlement.
Prosecutors accused Findley of posing as three totally different individuals supposedly concerned with the faux lender, fabricating mortgage paperwork and publishing a fraudulent foreclosures discover in a Memphis newspaper asserting the public sale of Graceland in Might 2024. Presley’s granddaughter sued and a choose stopped the sale.
The Related Press experiences a public discover for the foreclosures sale of the 13-acre property mentioned Promenade Belief, which controls the Graceland museum, owed $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 mortgage.
Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter, Riley Keough, inherited the belief and possession of the house after the dying of her mom. Keough filed the lawsuit claiming fraud. The AP experiences Keough alleged within the lawsuit that Naussany Investments offered fraudulent paperwork relating to the mortgage in September 2023 and that Lisa Marie Presley by no means borrowed cash from Naussany.
Findley pleaded responsible in February to a cost of mail fraud associated to the rip-off. She was additionally indicted on a cost of aggravated id theft, however the cost was dropped as a part of a plea settlement.
The notary whose title was listed on Naussany’s paperwork mentioned she by no means met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any paperwork for her, based on the property’s lawsuit, WOWT-TV reported. The choose mentioned the notary’s affidavit introduced into query the authenticity of the signature.
Graceland was Elvis Presley’s residence earlier than he died in August 1977 on the age of 42. It is now a museum and vacationer attraction attracting a whole lot of hundreds of holiday makers every year. Throughout the road is a Presley-themed leisure advanced owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises.
No stranger to the legislation
Findley isn’t any stranger to the legislation. The choose cited her felony historical past, together with a number of convictions from the mid-2000s, many in Oklahoma, based on WREG. They embody acquiring cash below false pretenses, together with bank card and pretend test costs, however the TV station experiences she has not been convicted of against the law within the final decade.
“I don’t know the way the defendant would assume this [scheme] could be completed, but had it come to fruition, it could have been a tragedy of justice,” mentioned U.S. District Decide John T. Fowlkes Jr.
Findley didn’t communicate on her personal behalf throughout her listening to Tuesday.
