Joel Weinshanker on Graceland, protests, coronavirus
A fierce battle is brewing over the future of Elvis Presley’s Graceland mansion after a legal notice issued earlier this month indicated the historic property would be going up for foreclosure auction on Thursday.
The legal notice states that Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’s daughter, allegedly signed a Deed of Trust in 2018, securing a $3.8 million loan via a company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending, using Graceland as collateral.
The company claims Lisa Marie Presley never paid back that money before she died last year, and the firm initiated plans for Elvis’ former home in Memphis, Tennessee, as well as its surrounding acreage on Elvis Presley Boulevard, to be sold to the highest bidder at a foreclosure sale. The mansion, which is now a museum, is located in the Whitehaven area of Memphis.
However, the legendary singer’s family is disputing the legality of the purported sale, claiming that it is fraudulent.
ELVIS PRESLEY’S REVOLVER FETCHES NEARLY $200K ON THE AUCTION BLOCK
American rock singer Elvis Presley, wearing a white rhinestone-studded suit and a strapped guitar, sings. Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee, was the home of Elvis Presley. (Fotos International/Getty Images, left, Richard Berkowitz, right / Getty Images)
Riley Keough, Presley’s actress granddaughter and the sole heir to the property, secured a temporary restraining order on the sale Monday, according to WREG, citing an attorney for Keough. An injunction hearing is set for Wednesday.
“Elvis Presley Enterprises can confirm that these claims are fraudulent. There is no foreclosure sale. Simply put, the counter lawsuit has been filed is to stop the fraud,” Graceland officials said in a statement, according to WREG.
ELVIS PRESLEY’S REVOLVER, PLUS RARE SPY GUNS TO HIT AUCTION BLOCK IN ILLINOIS: SEE THE PHOTOS
Riley Keough, left, inherited Graceland after reaching a settlement with Priscilla Presley in court. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Keough said in a 60-page lawsuit against Naussany Investments that her mother never borrowed any money from the company and that Presley’s signatures on the deed are forgeries. Keogh also alleges that Naussany Investments is not a real entity.
“These documents are fraudulent,” the lawsuit states.
Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie’s mother and Elvis’s ex-wife, blasted the legal notice on social media. “It’s a scam,” she wrote on X.
Lisa Marie Presley died in January 2023 due to a small bowel obstruction, according to the County of Los Angeles Medical Examiner’s office. Keough became heir to the estate and trustee of the Promenade Trust.
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Riley Keough arrives for the 2024 Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2024 in New York. (Angela Weiss/ Getty / Getty Images)
Elvis Presley bought the mansion in 1957 for $102,500 and lived there until his death in 1977.
Lisa Marie inherited Graceland after her father’s death, and it was opened to the public as a museum in 1982. It features costumes, artifacts and personal mementos from Elvis and his family.
About 600,000 tourists visit the property each year, according to the property’s website.
Keough, meanwhile, has earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress for her roles in the anthology series The Girlfriend Experience (2016) and the drama miniseries Daisy Jones & the Six (2023). She also starred in Mad Max: Fury Road (2015).
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