Elvis Presley’s Graceland Mansion Set to Be Auctioned in Foreclosure Battle
Elvis Presley’s famed Graceland mansion is set to be auctioned off to the highest bidder on May 23. The shocking turn of events is the result of a foreclosure battle that Presley’s granddaughter, actor Riley Keough, blasted as “fraudulent” in a lawsuit. Local Tennessee outlet WREG-TV reported the news on Monday.
Earlier this month, the Shelby County Courthouse filed a notice informing the public that Graceland would be auctioned off to the highest bidder for cash. Keough, the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley, is the current owner of Graceland.
Lisa Marie inherited the property immediately after her father’s death in 1977, and five years later opened it to the public as a museum. After her sudden death in January 2023, Keough and her adolescent sisters inherited the property.
The foreclosure sale dispute stems from a 2018 deed of trust that Lisa Marie allegedly signed to secure a loan of nearly $4 million, using Graceland as collateral. Naussany Investments and Private Lending, the firm which claims to have provided her with the loan, reported that Presley defaulted.
But Keough and Lisa Marie’s mother, Priscilla Presley, contend that no such loan was ever signed by Lisa Marie. “It’s a scam!” Presley wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday.
It’s a Scam ! pic.twitter.com/G0NJxOpbsW
— Priscilla Presley (@Cilla_Presley) May 21, 2024
On May 15, Riley Keough’s counsel filed a 60-page lawsuit pushing back against the claims.
“These documents are fraudulent,” the suit reads (via The New York Post). It goes on to say that the notary listed on the documents denies ever having met Lisa Marie or notarizing her signature. Keough’s attorneys also claim that Naussany Investments is not “a legitimate company.”
On May 20, a judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking Graceland’s sale. An injunction hearing is scheduled for May 22.
An anonymous source told NYP that Keough is “traumatized” over the potential sale. She “never thought that a historic piece of property could even be considered to go into the hands of any random stranger,” the source reported.
Graceland serves as both a cultural shrine and the Presley family estate. Though none of the living family resides on the property, Lisa Marie is buried on there along with Elvis and her son, Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in 2020. Priscilla Presley also plans to be interred on the property.
In 2006, Graceland was deemed a National Historic Landmark.
It seems somewhat unlikely, considering a plethora of remarks she’s made in the past, that Lisa Marie would use Graceland as collateral for any loan.
In 2013, she told U.S.A. Today that "sometimes there are rumors about [Graceland] being sold, and that is never going to happen. There's always a rumor. It is not getting sold. Graceland was given to me and will always be mine and then passed to my children. It will never be sold," Presley concluded.