A judge intervened Wednesday to stop alleged scammers from auctioning off Elvis Presley’s legendary Graceland mansion to the highest cash bidder.
The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s prized Memphis estate was set to be auctioned off this week until his granddaughter and heir, Riley Keough, 34, launched a last-minute legal bid to block the sale.
Keough’s attorney, Jeff Germany, told a court there are “serious and important allegations about the authenticity” of documents that allegedly show his late mother Lisa Marie Presley borrowed $3.8 million using Graceland as collateral.
The suspicious documents produced by the mysterious Missouri-based firm Naussany Investments include a deed of trust notarized by a Florida official who said in a sworn deposition that he had never met Lisa Marie or witnessed her signing.
The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s prized property in Memphis was set to be auctioned this week
Elvis’s granddaughter, actress Riley Keough, 34, challenged the sale with a lawsuit, alleging it is “fraudulent.”
“We have provided the notary’s affidavit in exhibit two of the complaint, which swears that the alleged notary on the alleged deed of trust was never notarized by the notary whose seal appears on the document,” Germany explained.
His version of events was not challenged at all, because no one from Naussany showed up in Shelby County Chancery Court to argue against him.
In fact, Germany told the court that he had had “no contact whatsoever” with Nassauny, nor with any lawyer acting on his behalf, nor with his alleged boss, Kurt Naussany.
That left a simple decision for Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins, who said it was in the “public interest” to maintain a temporary restraining order blocking the proposed 10 a.m. Thursday sale on the courthouse steps.
“The court will enjoin the sale as requested because the real property is considered unique under Tennessee law and, being unique, the loss of the real property would be considered irreparable harm,” he said at the 10-minute hearing.
Graceland, visited by 600,000 people each year, making it the second most visited American residence after the White House, is “very beloved in this community and, indeed, around the world,” he added.
The legal skirmish comes after a foreclosure notice posted online on May 12 stated that Graceland and its 13-acre land would be auctioned off “to the highest and best bidder for cash.”
He claimed that Lisa Marie, Elvis’ daughter, had borrowed millions of dollars in 2015 from Naussany Investments & Private Lending, a firm that does not appear in any searches for corporations at the state or national level.
The dark team claimed that Lisa Marie, who died in January 2023, aged 54, defaulted on the loan.
Graceland, the former home and burial site of the legendary Elvis Presley, will be sold at a foreclosure auction this Thursday.
Elvis’s only daughter, the late Lisa Marie Presley, reportedly signed a deed of trust in 2018 to secure a $3.8 million loan that she did not repay, using Graceland as collateral.
A temporary restraining order on the sale was issued Monday.
Naussany intended to recoup the funds by selling Graceland, according to his note.
Ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, the Mad Max: Fury Road actress’ lawyers obtained a temporary restraining order to block the ‘non-judicial sale’, arguing that the alleged loan never occurred and that the documents were ‘forgeries.’
Keough’s lawsuit said Kurt Naussany had sent him numerous emails seeking to collect his mother’s alleged debt, attaching a standard promissory note and a 2018 deed of trust for Graceland, both with Lisa Marie’s signature.
In an accompanying affidavit, Kimberly Philbrick, a Duval County, Florida, notary whose name appears on both documents, insisted that she had “never met Lisa Marie nor notarized any documents for her.”
The wording of the trust deed also included an inconsistent reference to ‘online notarization’ that was not authorized in Florida or mentioned in Duval County paperwork until 2020, two years after the deed was supposedly drafted.
“While the documents bear signatures that resemble those of Lisa Marie Presley, Lisa Marie Presley did not actually sign the documents,” the lawsuit insists.
“The alleged promissory note and deed of trust are products of fraud and the persons who participated in the creation of said documents are believed to be guilty of the crime of forgery.”
The documents mailed by Naussany included the return address of a UPS store in Jacksonville. A Missouri address was, likewise, a post office box.
When DailyMail.com called the phone number listed in Kurt Naussany’s contact details, the line was no longer in service.
The Associated Press said it had contacted him by email only to be referred to someone named Gregory Naussany, who responded: “Lawyers are welcome to comment!”
Chancellor Jenkins said at Wednesday’s hearing that his office had received a request overnight from someone calling himself Gregory Naussany requesting an extension of time.
“It appears to be a one-page facsimile,” he said in the process: “The court will deny the request.”
Riley’s lawsuit claims that her mother did not borrow money from the company and that her signatures on the deed are forgeries; (LR) Lisa, Priscilla Presley and Riley seen in 2022
The 13.8-acre property in Memphis draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year as people remember one of America’s most impactful musicians.
Fans are seen visiting Lisa Marie’s grave and Graceland meditation pool during her funeral on January 22, 2023.
This week’s legal drama marked the second time Keough has gone to court to establish herself as the owner of Graceland after a legal dispute in 2023 with her grandmother Priscilla Presley, 78, Elvis’ ex-wife.
They fought over a 2016 amendment to Lisa Marie’s will that removed Priscilla as trustee, but a judge ruled that the paperwork was legitimate and that Keough was the Suspicious Minds singer’s sole trustee.
Elvis purchased the eight-bedroom Graceland estate in 1957 for $102,500, the same year he released Jailhouse Rock, one of 18 No. 1 songs of his.
He and Priscilla had Lisa Marie nine months after their wedding day in 1967 and she spent her early years at her father’s sprawling compound.
Elvis and Priscilla divorced six years later, but Lisa Marie frequently returned to Memphis to stay and would eventually inherit Graceland after her father died there in 1977.
The property eventually became a profitable tourist attraction hosting a museum, $200 VIP tours and candlelight vigils to commemorate each anniversary of the rock and roll icon’s death, attracting 650,000 visitors annually and raising its value to $100 million. of dollars.
Lisa Marie sold 85 percent of the business portion of her father’s estate in 2005, but kept Graceland and his personal effects, turning its management over to an entertainment company.
Elvis, his parents, Lisa Marie, and son Benjamin Keough are buried at Graceland.
Benjamin took his own life in July 2020, at age 27, after a long battle with drug addiction and depression, echoing his mother’s troubled history of opioid abuse.