Some schemes are small-time; others are big, bold, and bizarre enough to need a soundtrack.
This one came with a mansion, a jumpsuit-sized spotlight, and a judge who called it “highly sophisticated.”
Lisa Jeanine Findley, 54, of Kimberling City, Missouri, has been sentenced to four years and nine months in federal prison — plus three years of probation — for trying to auction off Elvis Presley’s Graceland in what prosecutors say was an audacious mail-fraud plot.
The plot reads like bad fan fiction with forged paperwork.
Prosecutors say Findley fabricated loan documents, posed as three different people tied to a fake lender called Naussany Investments and Private Lending, and published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper announcing a May 2024 auction of the 13-acre estate.
The notice claimed Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owed $3.8 million on a supposed 2018 loan — and threatened to sell the house if Presley’s family didn’t pay a $2.85 million settlement.
Experts and onlookers were baffled.
Graceland, opened as a museum in 1982, is one of the most storied pieces of American real estate.
Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 at age 42, left an estate that is watched closely by fans and lawyers alike.
The trust’s current steward, actress Riley Keough — Presley’s granddaughter — sued, and a judge halted the brazen foreclosure sale with an injunction before the spectacle could proceed.
The fraud unraveled quickly.
Notary Kimberly Philbrick, whose name appeared on Naussany’s documents, said she never met Lisa Marie Presley and never notarized any signature in the case, casting doubt on the authenticity of the filings.
Prosecutors say Findley even tried to muddy the trail after the scheme fell apart — attempting to blame a Nigerian identity thief and sending an email (in Spanish) to the AP alleging a foreign fraud ring was responsible.
Findley pleaded guilty in February to a charge of mail fraud; an aggravated identity-theft charge was dropped as part of the plea agreement.
She declined to speak on her own behalf during the sentencing hearing.
In court, U.S. District Judge John T. Fowlkes Jr. called the scheme “highly sophisticated” and said completing the sale would have been “a travesty of justice.”
He ordered Findley to report to prison in October; she was also granted entry into a work-release program as part of her sentence.
Defense attorney Tyrone Paylor argued for leniency, noting Presley’s estate did not suffer a monetary loss and asking for a three-year sentence.
Prosecutors pushed back, emphasizing the deliberate, multi-faceted nature of the fraud.
Becker County Attorney Brian W. McDonald wasn’t quoted in this case summary, but the government’s stance was clear: crafting fake lenders, multiple aliases, and public foreclosure notices crossed the line from creative hustle to federal crime.
It’s the sort of caper that invites both incredulity and relief: incredulity that someone would attempt to market and sell one of America’s most iconic homes with forged paperwork and phony emails; relief that the courts acted fast enough to stop the auction before anyone mailed a winning bid.
Had the scheme succeeded, the legal and cultural fallout would have been enormous — a house that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year nearly changing hands because of an online classified ad.
Findley has a criminal history, including past attempts to pass bad checks, and prosecutors depicted the episode as more than a one-off lapse.
For the Presley family and the public, the halting of the sale was both vindication and a reminder: in the digital age, audacious scams can be typed up and printed faster than they can be stopped — but the law can move fast too, especially when a national icon like Graceland is on the line.
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