Woman charged in alleged scheme to steal Graceland, extort Elvis Presley family

A Missouri girl with an extended historical past of small-time scams and fraud was arrested Friday morning on federal costs in reference to a scheme to extort Elvis Presley’s household out of tens of millions and steal their possession curiosity within the music legend’s former Memphis residence, Graceland, prosecutors introduced.

Lisa Jeanine Findley, who can also be recognized by Lisa Holden and a slew of different aliases, 53, was charged with mail fraud and aggravated identification theft in a legal grievance unsealed Friday, prosecutors introduced.

Findley made her preliminary look Friday afternoon earlier than Justice of the Peace Decide David Rush at the USA Courthouse in Springfield, Missouri. She was appointed a public defender for the listening to that lasted simply seven minutes.

She waived her proper to a preliminary listening to or detention listening to and agreed to have these hearings happen within the prosecuting court docket, the Western District of Tennessee. The federal government moved for detention and he or she was ordered to be eliminated to the Western District of Tennessee and stays in custody. 

Prosecutors say she allegedly orchestrated a scheme for the fraudulent sale of Graceland. NBC Information was first to report in June on Findley’s connections to the Graceland plot, together with false identities, put up workplace bins, and telephone and fax numbers that appeared to hyperlink her to the scammers. 

An individual with information of the scenario who requested to not be named described a chaotic scene, as Findley was arrested this morning at her Kimberling Metropolis residence with “a minimum of 15 cops” coming to execute a warrant.

An lawyer listed as illustration for Findley in court docket paperwork didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Friday. In a June interview in entrance of her residence, Findley denied any involvement or information of a rip-off involving Graceland. The net accounts linked to the Graceland plot related to Findley have been deleted quickly after that interview.

The Graceland scheme first turned public in Could after an organization with none information or proof that it existed in any respect, Naussany Investments, filed a court docket declare that Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’ solely little one — who died in January 2023 — owed tens of millions of {dollars} in unpaid loans.

After Presley’s household did not pay, Naussany Investments tried to drive a foreclosures sale of Graceland to gather. The case made worldwide headlines, however was quickly tossed by a Tennessee choose who discovered Naussany Investments’ paperwork had possible been cast. Somebody claiming to signify the scammers emailed media retailers, together with NBC Information, saying a hoop of Nigerian identification thieves had been liable for the scheme. 

NBC Information first related Findley to the Graceland plot in a June investigation. A pretend Fb profile utilizing the identical title because the fabricated firm trying to drive the Graceland foreclosures led to greater than half a dozen different hyperlinks: pretend emails and on-line evaluations, put up workplace bins, and telephone and fax numbers, discovered via court docket information, interviews, on-line sleuthing and on-the-ground reporting.

Rasheed Jeremy Carballo, a former acquaintance of Findley’s who testified earlier than a grand jury listening to testimony on the alleged rip-off, instructed NBC Information in June that Findley had shared particulars with him a couple of deal involving Lisa Marie Presley’s home that will make tens of millions. 

As a part of the rip-off, Findley cast names, signatures, and notary seals to create pretend mortgage paperwork, in accordance with the charging paperwork.

Along with the hyperlinks reported by NBC Information in June, the grievance acknowledged FBI investigators discovered through phone and e-mail information that Findley had known as the Shelby County Register’s Workplace, the place the pretend Graceland deed was filed, and used burner emails related to her telephone quantity to submit notices of the foreclosures to a Memphis newspaper. FBI investigators additionally reported financial institution information for the account quantity offered for fee by Naussany Investments was really Findley’s private checking account.