Riley Keough Slams "Fraudulent" Attempt to Sell Graceland Property
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Originally appeared on E! Online
Riley Keough is hoping she can return this auction to sender.
The Daisy Jones & the Six star has filed a lawsuit to halt a proposed foreclosure sale of her grandfather Elvis Presley's iconic Graceland home, saying that the lender attempting to carry out the auction of the property is using forged signatures on a non-existent loan, according to court documents obtained by NBC News.
"Elvis Presley Enterprises can confirm that these claims are fraudulent," the entity that runs Graceland and the Elvis Presley Trust said in a statement to NBC News May 21. "There is no foreclosure sale. Simply put, the counter lawsuit has been filed is to stop the fraud."
The self-described lender, named in the lawsuit as Naussany Investments and Private Lending LLC, is the same private lender that filed a lawsuit against the estate of Riley's late mother Lisa Marie Presley in September, alleging that she had failed to pay pack a $3.8 million loan before her death in January of last year and had used the Memphis, Tenn., property as collateral.
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However Riley, who gained control of Graceland following her mother's death, said in her lawsuit that the $3.8 million loan never happened, because her mother never gave her signature. And according to the Zola actress, the creditor doesn't exist and the loan was never notarized.
In fact, her new lawsuit alleges a foreclosure sale—originally set for May 23—would be "non-judicial" and the lien paperwork actually violates Tennessee law.
E! News has reached out to Riley's lawyers as well as Naussany Investments for comment, but has not heard back.
Riley's attorneys confirmed to NBC News that a temporary restraining order had been granted in the case, but said further judgements would be declared following a court hearing set for May 22.
As for Riley, the 34-year-old has gone through her fair share of legal troubles surrounding the Graceland estate, as she also faced a dispute with grandmother Priscilla Presley over her role as the heir to the Graceland estate as stipulated in mother Lisa Marie's will. But the two were able to come to an agreement that didn't put a strain on their relationship, according to Riley.
"There was a bit of upheaval, but now everything's going to be how it was," she explained to Vanity Fair in August. "She's a beautiful woman, and she was a huge part of creating my grandfather's legacy and Graceland. It's very important to her. He was the love of her life. Anything that would suggest otherwise in the press makes me sad because, at the end of the day, all she wants is to love and protect Graceland and the Presley family and the legacy."
To get an inside look at Graceland, keep reading.
(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
Elvis Presley was just 22 years old when he bought his Graceland home in Memphis, Tenn., on March, 25, 1957. The singer paid $102,500 for the property, which already had its famous moniker. The home's previous owners Dr. Thomas Moore and his wife Ruth named the mansion after Ruth's aunt, Grace Toof, when they build the Colonial Revival style home in 1939.
Sadly, the legend died of a heart attack at Graceland on Aug. 16, 1977, when he was only 42.
In the wake of Lisa Marie Presley's death at age 54 on Jan. 12, Graceland was inherited by her three daughters—Riley Keough and Harper and Finley Lockwood—a representative for Graceland confirmed to E! News.
Lisa Marie took complete ownership of the home when she turned 25 in February 1993. Graceland also serves as the location for Lisa Marie's final resting place, a rep for Riley confirmed to E! News. She was buried alongside her father and her son, Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in 2020 at age 27.
Graceland welcomes over 600,000 visitors each year and is the most famous home in America after The White House. It was named to the American National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
The property offers ticketed visits for guests to see Elvis' jumpsuits and classic car collection, as well as his personal home, Vernon Presley's business office, Elvis' trophy building, his racquetball center and the meditation garden, where the King of Rock and Roll was laid to rest.
When Elvis first purchase the home it was 10,266 square feet. Today, it's now expanded to 17,552 square feet on 13.8 acres of land.
When the "Jailhouse Rock" singer was at the home, the weekly grocery bill was around $500, according to David Adler's book, The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley. The specific items to be stored in the Graceland kitchen at all times included a case of Pepsi, steak, hamburger buns, cans of sauerkraut, wieners, at least six cans of biscuits, brownies, banana pudding, lean bacon, mustard, ice cream, fudge cookies, brownies, and assorted fresh fruit.
In addition to five staircases and three fireplaces, the home also has a billIards room and a lair that Elvis referred to as "The Den". Complete with a waterfall, wooden walls, a grass shag carpet and plastic foliage, fans began calling it "the Jungle Room" when Graceland was opened to public visitors in 1982.
According to Rolling Stone, Elvis turned the oasis into a temporary studio to record 16 songs that were released on 1976's Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee, and 1977's Moody Blue.
The official Elvis Instagram account revealed that the Heartbreak Hotel actor was "a huge TV junkie" and "actually had 14 TV screens set up all around the Graceland mansion."
His programming of choice? "He loved to watch football," the caption read, "and prime-time favorites like Laugh-In, The Untouchables, The Tonight Show and The Match Game."
Though Elvis and Priscilla Presley divorced in 1973, she became a co-executor of Graceland after the 1979 death of the singer's father, Vernon Presley. She has been instrumental in keeping the estate up and running as a tourist destination and her ex one of the highest-earning deceased celebrities of all time.
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