These guys stepped on the wrong blue suede shoes.
A Memphis judge halted a planned foreclosure sale of Elvis Presley’s iconic Graceland home during a brief hearing Wednesday morning.
Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins ruled the historic Tennessee property should stay in the hands of the Presley family after suspicious minds questioned dubious documents handing it over to an investment company, which appear to have been forged.
In an audacious move, a company named Naussany Investments and Private Lending LLC got the local community “All Shook Up” by claiming the right to auction off Graceland — voted the most popular museum in America in 2023.
They even set a public auction for Thursday to sell the property to the “highest and best bidder for cash,” per the foreclosure notice.
The company’s claim to the property states it had loaned $3.8 million to Lisa Marie Presley — Elvis’ only daughter — and she had offered Graceland as collateral before her death in January last year.
A lawsuit filed Monday by Lisa Marie’s eldest daughter and heir, Riley Keough stated the documents were a fraud, her mother’s signature on them was forged and the company itself was a “false entity” set up to defraud the estate, which attracts 500,000 visitors annually.
The papers described how a deed of trust presented by the company, purportedly signing Graceland over to them, had apparently been signed by Lisa Marie in the presence of a woman named Kimberly Philbrick, who then notarized it as genuine.
However, Philbrick provided a document to Keough’s team which stated: “I have never met Lisa Marie Presley, nor have I ever notarized a document signed [by her].”
Eager to avoid a potential great rock ‘n’ roll swindle and Elvis’ home and final resting place falling into the wrong hands, Jenkins said Thursday’s sale must be postponed until clear evidence of who owns it is presented.
“The estate is considered unique under Tennessee law, and in being unique, the loss of the real estate will be considered irreparable harm [to the Presley family],” Jenkins ruled.
Naussany Investments — which lists its address as PO boxes in Florida and Missouri — will now have to prove their claims in court.
However, one of the men believed to be behind the company, Gregory Naussany, appeared to backtrack later Wednesday.
The Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper obtained an email from Naussany, which read: “Due to the Deed of Trust not being recorded and the loan being obtained in different state, legal action would have to be filed in multiple states and NAUSSANY Investments & Private Lending will not acquire to proceed [sic].
“There was no harm meant on Ms. Keough for her mothers [Lisa Marie Presley’s] mis habits and mis managing of money. The company will be withdrawing all claims with prejudice.”
Legal eagles said they felt it likely the company is trying to pull a fast one and effectively steal Graceland — which generates over $10m annually from tourists, according to its website — from under its true owners’ noses.
Cindy Ettingoff, an attorney not affiliated with the case, said it’s “fairly easy to register a deed” if a fake signature isn’t caught, then transfer it to someone else.
She told Memphis’ WREG-TV: “I could say I’m going to take your house, your title, I’m going to claim that it’s your signature on [the deed] transferring title to me. Once I have the title, I don’t want to get caught … so I’m going to sell it to someone else, take the money, and I will go on to the next place.”
Graceland has been a fixture in Memphis since Elvis bought the estate in 1957 for $102,500, the same year he released the hits “Blue Christmas” and “All Shook Up.”
Spanning 14 acres, the estate is preserved as it was when Elvis died there in 1977.
