It seems almost unimaginable that Graceland, the historic and somewhat kitsch mansion that was home to Elvis Presley since 1957, a historical monument and the second most visited building in the United States (more than 20 million tourists; only after the White House), passes into hands other than those of the Presley family. However, its future now hangs in the balance. In fact, from a judicial thread. Graceland has been about to go up for auction: it was going to be sold this Thursday, May 23. It is still unknown what will happen to her. But behind it there are complicated and millionaire interests that put its future in danger.
The point is that Graceland is the epicenter of a long-standing dispute. A company called Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC claims that the king of rock’s only daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, who died suddenly in January 2023, at age 54, asked them for a $3.8 million loan about six years ago. years. In fact, her 2022 tax return showed that Lisa Marie owed more than $3 million, but not to whom or for what reasons. The point is that now Naussany assures that the singer also put the mansion as collateral for the payment of the loan, and that by never having recovered the money they have the right to foreclosure. However, Riley Keough, Lisa Marie’s eldest daughter, alleges that all of the loan paperwork submitted by Naussany is fraudulent and that her mother’s signature has been forged.
The actress, who will turn 35 in a few days—protagonist of series like Everyone loves Daisy Joneswhich earned him an Emmy nomination at the last Golden Globes, and of the recent Under the bridge—, is also the guardian of the family estate, being the sole trustee of her late mother’s estate and after reaching an agreement with her grandmother, Priscilla Presley, after a not-too-discreet fight over Lisa Marie’s will. She claims that Naussany has no right to put the house up for sale and that it may not even be “a real entity.” She has stated this in the 60-page lawsuit that her lawyers have released.
Keough—who is writing his mother’s impending memoir—claims in the papers that “the promissory note and deed of trust are fraudulent and cannot be enforced.” “The alleged promissory note and the trust deed are products of fraud and it is believed that those people who participated in the creation of said documents are guilty of a crime of forgery,” defends the actress in her lawsuit with which she intends to paralyze the sale. from Graceland. For her, furthermore, Naussany is “a false entity created with the purpose of defrauding the Promenade Trust”, that is, the fund that manages the family assets, “the heirs of Lisa Marie Presley or any buyer of Graceland in an unsecured sale.” judicial”. Therefore, she claims that Naussany’s intention to sell the house is a violation of the laws of Tennessee, where the mansion is located, and that she has filed that countersuit “to stop the fraud.”
The company that manages Graceland and the family assets, Elvis Presley Enterprises, alleges that the loan never took place and that Lisa Marie never gave her signature. However, according to the company that wants to auction the property, there is a promissory note signed by a Florida notary public named Kimberly Philbrick. But Philbrick herself has denied this. “I have never met Lisa Marie Presley, nor have I ever notarized a document signed by Lisa Marie Presley,” she said in a sworn statement.
“Elvis Presley Enterprises can confirm that these claims are fraudulent. There is no foreclosure sale. Simply put, the countersuit that has been filed is to stop the fraud,” they state in the papers. In any case, it seems that Thursday’s auction may be paralyzed. A court has issued an order restricting the sale. In addition, there is a hearing scheduled for this Wednesday, May 22.
Although Elvis bought the house in 1957 and enjoyed it as his home for two decades, it was his heir and only daughter, Lisa Marie, who decided to establish a trust for the management of the mansion and the funds it generated in 1993. residence—five hectares of land and eight rooms—was opened to the public converted into a kind of amusement park around the figure of the artist in the early eighties and receives around 600,000 visitors each year. In 2005 her assets reached more than 100 million dollars, but it was at that time that Lisa Marie’s debt grew and grew and made her get rid of up to 85% of Elvis Presley Enterprises, for about 100 million. of dollars at that time (about 165 million today, with the increase in inflation).
Today the family continues to maintain 15% of the company and also owns the house, which was valued at 5.6 million dollars in 2021 (today, 6.5, due to inflation). The newspaper The New York Times estimates that the king of rock brand and its associated products and events generate around $100 million a year; and that, in fact, in 2022 Graceland generated about 80 million dollars, so around 12 would have gone into the hands of the family. The year before her death, Lisa Marie Presley received about $1.25 million from the trust.
