A Missouri woman has pleaded guilty to mail fraud for her role in an alleged scam to steal the Elvis Presley family’s ownership interest in the famed Graceland mansion.
Lisa Jeanine Findley, who has gone by various aliases including Lisa Holden and Lisa Howell, initially pleaded not guilty to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft last year. But during a hearing before a Memphis federal judge on Tuesday (Feb. 25), Findley agreed to plead guilty to one count of mail fraud. According to court documents, the other charge — a count of aggravated identity theft — will be dismissed as part of the plea deal.
Findley was arrested in August on the charges, with prosecutors alleging she posed as three different people affiliated with a fake company named Naussany Investments & Private Lending to claim that Presley’s daughter, the late Lisa Marie Presley, had utilized the music legend’s Memphis, Tenn., home as collateral for a $3.8 million loan she had failed to repay. Findley also allegedly falsified loan documents and forged the signatures of both Lisa Marie and a notary public in order to file a false deed of trust with the Shelby County Register’s Office, as well as a false creditor’s claim with the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles.
The Justice Department further claimed that Findley published a false foreclosure notice in The Commercial Appeal, Memphis’s daily newspaper, to announce that Naussany Investments intended to auction Graceland if Presley’s family did not pay or settle the claim against the estate.
However, that attempted auction was halted when Elvis’ granddaughter and Lisa Marie’s daughter, Riley Keough — who took over as trustee for the Graceland-controlling Promenade Trust following Lisa Marie’s death in 2023 at age 54 — won a court order blocking it.
“Fame and money are magnets for criminals who look to capitalize on another person’s celebrity status,” Eric Shen, inspector in charge of U.S. Postal Inspection Service Criminal Investigations Group (USPIS), previously noted in a statement following Findley’s arrest last August. “In this case, Ms. Findley allegedly took advantage of the very public and tragic occurrences in the Presley family as an opportunity to prey on the name and financial status of the heirs to the Graceland estate, attempting to steal what rightfully belongs to the Presley family for her personal gain. Postal Inspectors and their law enforcement partners put an end to her alleged scheme, protecting the Presley family from continued harm and stress.”
Findley is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18 and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.