Graceland foreclosure and Riley Keough's lawsuit to prevent sale of Elvis' Memphis home: What to know
Graceland, the famed estate of Elvis Presley, is facing the possibility of a public auction after a foreclosure notice was posted in early May.
That public auction was scheduled for Thursday, May 23, but has been put on hold after a temporary restraining order was granted. Riley Keough, who inherited the estate after Lisa Marie Presley's death in January 2023, filed a lawsuit to stop the sale.
Here's what to know about the potential auction.
Why is Graceland under foreclosure?
On May 5, 2024, an investing and lending company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending LLC posted a notice of foreclosure sale.
The notice said Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis' daughter who died in Jan. 2023, owed $3.8 million after failing to pay back a loan on May 16, 2018. The loan, the notice alleged, was taken out by Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland estate.
Graceland was used as collateral in the loan, Naussany Investments and Private Lending said.
Riley Keough, Lisa Marie Presley's daughter, inherited Promenade Trust after her mother's death.
Will Graceland be sold at auction?
A public auction for Graceland, located at 3734 Elvis Presley Blvd., was set for May 23. That auction was placed on hold following a Shelby County Chancery Court judge granting a temporary restraining order.
After learning of the foreclosure notice, Keough's attorneys filed a lawsuit claiming the documents from Naussany Investments and Private Lending were fake.
"These documents are fraudulent," the lawsuit alleged. "Lisa Marie Presley never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust to Naussany Investments."
In filing that lawsuit, a temporary restraining order was granted, and an injunction hearing was scheduled for May 22.
If the injunction is granted, it would place an indefinite hold on the auction until the case is resolved. The injunction was granted Wednesday.
If the judge finds that the documents are fake, the auction will not be hosted.
What is in the lawsuit to retain Graceland?
The lawsuit to keep Graceland requested three legal issues be granted, and two damages clauses.
The first, which Shelby County Chancellor Joedae Jenkins granted shortly after the lawsuit was filed May 15, asked for a temporary restraining order.
Second, the lawsuit requests a permanent injunction hearing, and that the injunction be entered. That injunction was granted during Wednesday's hearing.
Third, it requests that a judge declare the deed of trust that Naussany Investments and Private Lending claims to have fraudulent.
Graceland, a Memphis destination
Graceland was Elvis Presley's home in Memphis and where he died in 1977.
After his death, Graceland opened for tours in 1982. Tours of the home have continued for decades, and it has become a popular destination for people visiting Memphis.
In 1999, a nearby hotel was purchased, renovated and renamed the Heartbreak Hotel. That hotel was closed in 2016, and replaced with a 450-room resort hotel. It has since been renamed to The Guest House at Graceland.
Since opening to the public, millions of people have visited Graceland. It touts over 500,000 visitors each year on the Graceland website.
The historical site also hosts a number of events, and was the venue for Lisa Marie Presley's funeral in January 2023.
Who is Naussany Investments and Private Lending?
Naussany Investments and Private Lending in Missouri seems to have no public-facing platform. No website, nor social media could be found at the time of publication.
The lawsuit filed by Keough described Naussany Investments and Private Lending LLC as "not a real entity."
"Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC appears to be a false entity created for the purpose of defrauding the Promenade Trust, the heirs of Lisa Marie Presley, or any purchaser of Graceland at a non-judicial sale," the lawsuit read. "Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC is named as a defendant because it asserts the right to conduct a non-judicial sale. It is named in case it is a real entity formed by some jurisdiction."
A physical address could not be located by The Commercial Appeal. Court documents said only two P.O. boxes could be attributed to the business, one in Hollister, Missouri for a collections department and another in Kimberling City, Missouri. A third address, without a direct P.O. box, in Jacksonville, Florida, was also tied to the company. That location is the location of a United States Postal Service branch office.
Kurt Naussany is listed as a defendant in the case, and has two addresses listed in the case. One of those addresses is the Kimberling City address and the other is an unspecified Jacksonville address.
The email signature on an email from Naussany, submitted as an exhibit in the case, provided an out-of-service phone number. No response has been received by The Commercial Appeal from the email address.
A second member of Naussany Investments is mentioned in a collection claim as Carolyn Williams, senior collection officer for NIPL LLC/Collections Department. The Commercial Appeal emailed two accounts for Carolyn Williams one with the listed "lllc" and one with it spelled correctly, the correctly spelled one was returned back and no answer has been received from the other.
Who is Riley Keough?
Riley Keough is the daughter of Lisa Marie Presley. She is the oldest grandchild of Elvis Presley, and is an actress.
She played Diane Nixon in "The Good Doctor," a 2012 drama and thriller that released to mixed reviews. She would go on to have roles in a number of movies, and open a production company called Felix Culpa.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Graceland foreclosure: Is Elvis' Memphis home for sale? What to know
