Elvis Presley's "Graceland" estate in Memphis, Tennessee, has reportedly fallen into foreclosure and is set to be sold off at auction on May 23rd. Elvis's granddaughter, and primary current heir, Riley Keough, is scrambling to prevent the auction. Riley inherited the estate from her late mother Lisa Marie Presley. A loan allegedly taken out by Lisa Marie is the crux of the foreclosure fight.
According to foreclosure filings, in 2018 Lisa Marie supposedly took out a $3.8 million loan using Graceland as collateral. She supposedly borrowed the money from a company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending. In a lawsuit to prevent the foreclosure, Keough alleges that not only did her mother not ever borrow any money from the company, but the company itself doesn't even really exist.
Keough's lawsuit says Naussany "appears to be a false entity created for the purpose" of committing fraud against Presley and that any documents indicating that Graceland was signed over as collateral "are forgeries." Adding to Keough's case is an affidavit, included in the lawsuit, from a notary public whose signature is on the deed to Graceland, purportedly in exchange for the loan and who is quoted as saying, "I did not notarize this document."
As for Naussany, local reporters were able to contact two individuals "who appeared to be affiliated with" the company, but as of this writing, they have given no comment outside of forwarding all questions to their own attorneys.
Local Memphis CBS affiliate WREG says that a judge will consider the allegations on Wednesday, with a temporary restraining order granted to postpone the auction scheduled for the next day. Elvis's ex-wife Priscilla Presley also chimed in on her Instagram account, posting a photo of Graceland with the caption, "It's a scam!", presumably a reference to the foreclosure proceedings.
Graceland was purchased by the King of Rock and Roll early in his stardom in 1957 when he was just 22 years old. He paid a little over $100,000 for the mansion, roughly $1.1 million in today's dollars. He eventually bought an additional 14 acres of surrounding farmland. It's been designated in the American National Register of Historic Places and has become a mecca for Elvis fans all over the world, so a foreclosure of the property, whether fraudulent or not, would be a borderline tragic event for the Presley family and Elvis fans at large.
(Photo by Bill Nation/Sygma via Getty Images)
How Did This Even Come To Be?
Upon Elvis' death in 1977 at the age of 42, all of his assets and intellectual property rights went to Lisa Marie. The total value of the estate was $5 million, but after taxes, it was reduced to $1 million. Lisa was nine when her dad died, so the Elvis estate was managed by Priscilla until her 25th birthday in 1990. Thanks to Priscilla's savvy licensing and investments, Lisa inherited around $100 million.
Unfortunately, Lisa was a profligate spender. According to a former financial manager, by 2003, she had plunged the estate into $20 million worth of debt. That explains her 2005 decision to sell 85% of her father's intellectual property rights for $100 million. It's important to note here that Lisa did not sell Graceland.
Unfortunately (again), Lisa continued to be a profligate spender. According to a former financial manager, by 2015 she had dwindled her assets down to around $14,500. And according to her own financial filings, revealed through a multi-year divorce battle, at the end of her life Lisa Marie Presley was as much as $10 million in debt.
Lisa died in January of last year at the age of 55. Riley Keough was her sole adult heir. The primary assets inherited by Riley were Graceland and a 15% stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises. Riley has two half-siblings, Finley and Harper, who were 14 at the time of Lisa's death. Today, they are 15. When they turn 18 in October 2026, whatever assets remain at that point will be split in three.
I have never been to Graceland, but everyone who goes there says something along the lines of "it's an average house located just off a highway in the middle of a very average suburban neighborhood." Watch the drone video below and that reaction makes sense. Though, as you see around the 1:20 mark, there does now appear to be a MASSIVE museum across the highway. Upon further research I see that is a 200,000-square-foot complex is an exhibition center and a 450-room hotel. But Graceland itself… kind of meh, no?
