One of the more fascinating music-adjacent stories in recent memory arose in May when Elvis Presley's world-famous Memphis estate Graceland almost went up for auction after a creditor alleged that the late Lisa Marie Presley had offered up the property as collateral on a loan. Elvis' granddaughter and Lisa Marie's daughter, actress Riley Keough, sued to block the sale, after which more intriguing details emerged. The contract bearing Lisa Marie's signature was revealed to be fraudulent, and a mysterious ring of international identity thieves who claimed credit for the scheme. Three months later, an arrest has been made.
Federal authorities announced today that they'd taken Lisa Jeanine Findley, 53, of Kimberling City, MO into custody, the New York Times reports. Findley is charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. She has allegedly been operating under a number of aliases including Lisa Holden, Lisa Howell, Gregory Naussany, Kurt Naussany, Lisa Jeanine Sullins and Carolyn Williams. The Naussany names will be familiar to people who've been keeping up with this case.
Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department told the Times, "The defendant orchestrated a scheme to conduct a fraudulent sale of Graceland, falsely claiming that Elvis Presley’s daughter had pledged the historic landmark as collateral for a loan that she failed to repay before her death." If convicted, Findley faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft and could serve up to 20 years for mail fraud.
