Graceland set for foreclosure auction; Elvis heir claims fraud, fights sale

UPDATE: A Shelby County judge i ssued an injunction Wednesday halting the sale of the Graceland estate, which was set for a foreclosure auction Thursday. Click here for new story.

Earlier coverage is below:

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Graceland, the historic home of Elvis Presley , is set to be sold off at a foreclosure sale this Thursday according to a legal notice, but Presley’s granddaughter is fighting the sale with a lawsuit, saying the claims are fraudulent.

A temporary restraining order on the sale was granted Monday, according to an attorney for heir Riley Keough. An injunction hearing is set for Wednesday.

“It’s a scam!” Priscilla Presley, Lisa Marie’s mother and Elvis’s ex-wife, wrote on her X account.

The Shelby County Register of Deeds said Tuesday that the office has no record on file of a deed related to Graceland.

A notice published this month states that Graceland and surrounding acreage on Elvis Presley Boulevard is set to be auctioned off for cash to the highest bidder on the Shelby County Courthouse steps May 23.

The legal notice states that Lisa Marie Presley allegedly signed a Deed of Trust in 2018 securing a $3.8 million loan with a Missouri company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending, using Graceland as collateral. The company claims she never paid back that money before she died last year.

But Presley’s daughter Danielle Riley Keough says in a 60-page lawsuit against Naussany Investments , filed May 15 in Shelby County Chancery Court, that her mother never borrowed any money from the company.

“These documents are fraudulent,” the lawsuit states.

Keough claims Presley’s signatures on the deed are forgeries, and that Naussany Investments is not a real entity. According to the suit, the notary involved in the deed denies that she notarized Lisa Marie Presley’s signature or ever met her.

WREG has reached out to Graceland officials for comment. They released the following statement:

“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.”

We attempted to call Naussany, but the number was not in service.

Elvis Presley bought the Graceland mansion in the Whitehaven area of Memphis in 1957. Lisa Marie inherited Graceland after her father’s death in 1977, and it opened to the public as a museum in 1982.

Lisa Marie Presley died in January 2023. Her daughter became heir to the estate and trustee of the Promenade Trust.

About 600,000 visitors tour Graceland each year. The house was named in a survey last year as the most popular museum in the United States .

This story has been updated with new information Tuesday.

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