A Missouri woman who initially pleaded not guilty to federal charges related to an elaborate scam to steal the Graceland estate from Elvis Presley’s family is now accepting some responsibility.
Lisa Jeanine Findley, who is also known by various aliases including Lisa Holden, pleaded not guilty last year to mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. But on Tuesday, she agreed to plead guilty to mail fraud. The other charge will be dismissed, court documents state.
When asked by a federal judge in Memphis if she was admitting guilt and accepting responsibility, Findley said, “Yes,” The Associated Press reported.
The plea deal adds another layer to Findley’s long record of swindles and fraud going back decades that netted her hundreds of thousands of dollars and left a trail of angry victims. For her past scams, she did time in state and federal prisons.
The Graceland scam was by far her most brazen. As part of the plot, Findley forged names, signatures and notary seals to create fake loan documents, according to the charging documents.
It began with a bid by Naussany Investments, a bogus company run by people who did not seem to be real, seeking control over Graceland over what it claimed was an unpaid debt by Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis Presley’s only child, who died in 2023. The documents filed in a Memphis, Tennessee, court were forged and a judge halted the proceedings after Presley’s daughter, Riley Keough, objected.
Posing as Naussany Investments executives, the scammers wrote to NBC News and other media outlets that they were dropping their attempt to steal Graceland. One person, who called himself Gregory Naussany, claimed he was part of a ring of Nigerian identity thieves.
But an NBC News investigation found that a trail of digital clues left by the bogus company — including a fake Facebook profile, addresses, negative Google reviews and phone and fax numbers — led to Findley, a grandmother who was living near Branson, Missouri. The fake Facebook account had been used as a weapon in a battle between a local nail salon and a disgruntled former employee whom Findley had befriended.
Findley denied knowing about the case when NBC News confronted her at her front door last June. She claimed that her identification had been stolen. Asked about the digital clues that pointed to her, she replied, “I have no earthly idea what you’re talking about.”
Two months later, federal authorities charged Findley for the Graceland fraud.
Findley is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18.
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