The catalyst behind the failed attempt to sell the iconic Graceland property in Memphis is a mystery.
The self-described investment company is also under fire from a fraud lawsuit, an aggressive attorney general and a community of Elvis Presley devotees who view the king of rock n’ roll’s house-turned-museum as a sacred place.
Among the many questions surrounding the Graceland auction attempt is how often cases arise in which an entity emerges to claim the assets of elderly or deceased people. Experts say it’s more common than you might think.
“I have never heard of fraud targeting such a well-known institution. So it’s a little surprising on that front,” said Nicole Forbes Stowell, a business law professor at the University of South Florida’s St. Petersburg campus. “But I don’t think it’s surprising to ordinary people that these are targets.”
Naussany Investments and Private Lending caused a stir when a public notice of the foreclosure sale of the 13-acre (5-hectare) Graceland estate was issued this month.
The notice says Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owed $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan. Riley Keough, actress and granddaughter of Elvis Presley, inherited the trust and ownership of the house following the death of his mother, Lisa Marie Presley, in 2023.
Naussany said Lisa Marie Presley used Graceland as collateral for the loan, according to the foreclosure sale notice. Keough filed suit May 15, alleging Naussany presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023 and asking a Memphis judge to block the sale to the highest bidder.
“Lisa Maria Presley never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust to Naussany Investments,” Keough’s attorney, Jeff Germany, wrote in the lawsuit.
“It’s a scam,” actress Priscilla Presley, Elvis’ ex-wife, said on her social media accounts.
An injunction Wednesday from Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins halted the sale, which was scheduled for the next day. Jenkins said in court that Elvis Presley’s estate could successfully argue that Nausanny’s attempt to sell Graceland at auction was fraudulent.
One reason is an affidavit from Kimberly Philbrick, the Florida notary whose name appears on Naussany’s documents. Philbrick said she never met Lisa Marie Presley or notarized any documents for her, according to the lawsuit. The judge said the affidavit called into question the authenticity of the signature.
On the affected documents, the signature blocks were not correct and the documents referenced an online notarization option that was not recognized in Florida until 2020, two years after the purported notarization, Stowell said.
“It makes me wonder if these documents were created after Lisa Marie died,” Stowell said. “The whole thing doesn’t pass the smell test.”
Mark Sunderman, a real estate professor at the University of Memphis, questioned why the lender would foreclose now if it hadn’t received payments years after the loan was issued.
“If someone starts missing payments or hasn’t made a payment, you’re not going to sit there for a few years and then say, ‘Gee, I think we need to foreclose now,'” Sunderman said .
The lender’s legitimacy is also in doubt after unsuccessful attempts by The Associated Press to verify its existence beyond an email address and a court filing signed by Gregory Naussany.
Court documents included business addresses in Jacksonville, Florida, and Hollister, Missouri. Both involved post offices, and one reference to Kimberling City, Missouri, was a post office box. The company is also not listed in state databases of companies registered in Missouri or Florida.
“I’ve never heard of this case,” said Laura Cather, Kimberling’s town clerk.
A search of the Financial Sector Regulatory Authority’s online records revealed no registrations for the company. No representatives from Naussany appeared in court, although the company filed an unsuccessful motion rejecting the lawsuit’s allegations and opposing the estate’s request for an injunction.
After the sale was halted, Naussany issued a statement saying it would drop its claim because a key document in the deal and the loan had been recorded and obtained in a different state, meaning “that a lawsuit should be filed in several states.” The statement does not specify the other state.
Naussany did not respond to emailed interview requests from the AP. Online court records showed no legal documents suggesting the claim, or the lawsuit, had been dropped.
Sunderman, the Memphis professor, said apparently fraudulent claims involving real estate disputes occur more often than one might think, especially in situations involving inheritances.
“It’s very difficult for someone to say, ‘Well, no, I didn’t take out that loan, I didn’t sign those papers,’ when he’s dead,” Sunderman said.
Darrell Castle, a Memphis attorney who is not involved in the case but is monitoring it, said he often sees cases in which elderly people are targets of fraud.
“I get cases quite often where people who are really helpless in the final stages of their life in a nursing home are financially victimized,” Castle said. “The human mind will find a way to cheat and steal if it can.”
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said Thursday his office was reviewing the case to determine whether the estate had been the target of fraud.
Skrmetti’s office can investigate and bring civil charges, including suspected consumer fraud. He could provide evidence of criminal wrongdoing to the prosecutor or federal authorities.
Opened in 1982, Graceland quickly became Memphis’ most famous tourist attraction and a landmark for fans of Elvis Presley, the singer, actor and fashion icon who died in August 1977 at the age of 42. Hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to the museum every year. and the large entertainment complex across the street.
Who should target him with a system that “collapsed at the first email, phone call or internet search”, and what flaws in the legal system allowed him to move closer to the bloc auctions than it should have, should be the priorities of the investigation. attorney general, said Nikos Passas, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Northeastern University.
“The chance of succeeding in what they were trying to do – that is, auctioning the property and getting the proceeds from the sale, then using the money – does not appear to be the real intention, unless they’re incredibly stupid,” Passas said. said. “So the question is: ‘What was the intention and who was behind it?’ »