Keough said the announced court-approved sale of the Memphis property “fraudulent” in a court filing.
Riley Keough is fighting to stop the foreclosure sale of Graceland.
The Daisy Jones & the Six actress, who became the sole trustee of her grandfather Elvis Presley’s estate after the 2023 death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, calls the announced court-approved sale of the famed Memphis property “fraudulent” in a court filing.
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Keough filed a civil lawsuit in Tennessee’s Shelby County Chancery Court Wednesday to block Naussany Investments & Private Lending from auctioning the iconic home in a sale set for Thursday. She says the Missouri-based creditor claims it’s collecting on an unpaid $3.8 million loan taken out by Lisa Marie in 2018, which used Graceland as collateral, but no such loan exists.
In the filing, Keough asked the court to grant a restraining order against the creditor, “or any party acting in concert,” to block “any non-judicial sale of the property.” She alleges that the business “is not a real entity” and was “created for the purpose of defrauding” Keough’s (previously Lisa Marie’s) Promenade Trust. Further, Keough claims Lisa Marie’s signature was forged on the alleged loan documents, and the notary listed as a witness says they never met Lisa Marie.
“The note and deed of trust are fraudulent and unenforceable,” Keough alleges in the suit. She says “those individuals who were involved in the creation of such documents are believed to be guilty of the crime of forgery.”
A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
Elvis Presley Enterprises — the corporate entity that runs Graceland — has backed Keough’s claims that it’s “fraudulent. There is no foreclosure sale. Simply put, the counter lawsuit has been filed to stop the fraud.”
Priscilla Presley, Elvis’s former wife and Keough’s grandmother, has also deemed it a “scam.”
↩️ How we got here
Last summer, Keough was granted control of the Graceland home, Elvis’s belongings and 15 percent of Elvis Presley Enterprises after her mother’s sudden death and her brief legal battle with Priscilla.
In September, Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC sued the estate, claiming Lisa Marie defaulted on the loan, which was supposed to have been paid off by May 2022. The company claimed it had no contact with Lisa Marie after March 2022 and that attempts to reach her were unsuccessful. Naussany Investments said it would drop the lawsuit if the estate paid 75% percent of the debt, or around $2.85 million, within 45 days.
Lisa Marie had financial problems during her life. She inherited her father’s estate, worth an estimated $100 million, when she was 25. Failed business deals and overspending led to her selling 85 percent of the stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2005. (She later sued her former business manager, Barry Siegel, claiming he mismanaged the estate.) In the $114 million sale, Lisa Marie received $50 million cash, $26 million in stock and had $25 million of debt erased. She retained 15 percent of Elvis Presley Enterprises as well as ownership of Graceland and its original items. Elvis Presley Enterprises changed hands again in 2013 with Lisa Marie retaining her stake.
Lisa Marie was buried at Graceland last year, near her father, grandparents and son Benjamin Keough, who died in 2020. In an interview after her mother’s death, Keough talked about what the estate meant to her and her plans for Graceland, which included a December Christmas special she produced.
As sole trustee, Keough also manages the sub-trusts of her two younger siblings, 15-year-old half-sisters Finley and Harper Lockwood, who are Lisa Marie’s daughters from her marriage to musician Michael Lockwood.
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Yahoo!Entertainment
