Elvis’ Graceland home up for auction after Lisa Marie Presley ‘failed to pay back $3.8m loan’ as family files lawsuit
ELVIS Presley’s historic Graceland home could be sold off at a foreclosure auction this week if appeals by surviving family members are unsuccessful.
According to a legal notice filed this month, the property and its surrounding land is due to be auctioned off to the highest bidder at Shelby County Courthouse in Memphis, Tennessee, on May 23.
The sale, however, is being fought by Presley’s granddaughter – actress Riley Keough – who claims the company behind the foreclosure had no right to go it, local CBS affiliate WREG reports.
Naussany Investments and Private Lending claims Keough’s mother, Lisa Marie Presley, took out a $3.8 million loan using the property as collateral in 2018.
It claims Lisa Marie signed a Deed of Trust to secure the loan that year, but it alleged she never paid the debt back before her death at the age of 54 last year.
Keough, meanwhile, argues the loan is fake, insisting it was not executed by her mother.
“These documents are fraudulent,” Keough’s lawsuit, filed May 15 in Shelby County Chancery Court, states.
She goes onto claim the signatures on the deed are forgeries and goes even further to allege that Naussany Investments is not a real entity.
In the lawsuit, she claims the notary involved in the deed has denied verifying Lisa Marie’s signature or even having ever met her.
A temporary restraining order to halt the sale was granted by the court on Monday and an injunction hearing is set for Wednesday.
Presley moved into Graceland with his family in 1957 during the height of his career.
The megastar bought the 13.8-acre estate for $102,500, the same year he recorded fan favorite hits Blue Christmas and All Shook Up.
His daughter Lisa Marie is understood to have inherited Graceland after Elvis’s death in 1977.
By 1982, she had helped convert it into a museum and tourist destination.
In a survey last year, the property was named the most popular museum in the United States.
Over 600,000 guests explore the home of the King of Rock & Roll every year, according to the museum’s website.
What is Elvis Presley's Graceland?
Elvis crafted some of his most famous hits at Graceland, including Blue Christmas and All Shook Up. Here's everything you need to know.
Graceland is located at 3763 Elvis Presley Blvd in Memphis, Tennessee.
It was constructed in 1939 by Ruth Brown Moore and her husband Thomas D. Moore, which named the property Graceland after Ruth’s aunt Grace who originally owned the land.
Elvis purchased the property in 1957 and immediately moved in with his young family — wife Priscilla and daughter Lisa Marie Presley.
Elvis’ father, Vernon Presley, took over the trust managing Graceland along with the property itself after Elvis’s death in 1977, per directions in the star’s will.
The family decided to turn Graceland into a museum and tribute to the King of Rock & Roll, which opened in 1982.
Ownership of Graceland transferred to Lisa Marie when she turned 25 in 1993.
Graceland again changed ownership when Lisa Marie died suddenly in 2023.
Elvis’ granddaughter Riley Keough took procession of the estate after her mother’s death.
Lisa Marie was found unresponsive in her California home on January 12, 2023. She was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead hours later.
A later autopsy report found the star died from complications due to a small bowel obstruction.
The report said a small amount of Oxycodone, an opioid, was found in her system, which was attributed to a valid prescription she had received following cosmetic surgery some months previous.
She also had therapeutic levels of anti-anxiety drug, Buprenorphine, and traces of Quetiapine, an antipsychotic.
Her urine toxicology was otherwise negative and no drug paraphernalia or narcotics were found at her home, the coroner report said.
Lisa Marie was buried at Graceland next to her son, Benjamin Keough, who died at the age of 27 by suicide in 2020.
Both are buried in the property’s Meditation Garden.