Court halts Graceland sale; company withdraws claim
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Shelby County judge issued an injunction Wednesday halting the sale of the Graceland estate, which was set for a foreclosure auction Thursday, prompting the company involved to withdraw its claim.
“The court will enjoin the sale as requested because, one, the real estate is considered unique under Tennessee law. And in being unique, the loss of the real estate would be considered irreparable harm,” Chancellor Joe Dae Jenkins said Wednesday morning. “Graceland is part of this community and well loved by this community and around the world.”
Jenkins said the notary whose signature is on the Deed of Trust from 2018 has said in a sworn affidavit that she did not notarize Lisa Marie Presley’s signature. That brings into question the authenticity of the signature and of the Deed of Trust, he said.
Graceland set for foreclosure auction; Elvis heir claims fraud, fights sale
“As the court has now made clear, there was no validity to the claims,” Elvis Presley Enterprises said in a statement sent after Wednesday’s injunction hearing. “There will be no foreclosure. Graceland will continue to operate as it has for the past 42 years, ensuring that Elvis fans from around the world can continue to have a best in class experience when visiting his iconic home.”
No representatives for Naussany Investments, the company that advertised the foreclosure sale, were in court Wednesday.
In a statement emailed to WREG after the ruling, someone claiming to be with the company responded:
“Due to the Deed of Trust not being recorded and the loan being obtained in different state, legal action would have to be filed in multiple states and NAUSSANY Investments & Private Lending will not acquire to proceed. That comes from consultation of the lawyers for the company. There was no harm meant on Ms. Keough for her mothers LMP mis habits and mis managing of money. The company will be withdrawing all claims with prejudice.”
WREG asked company representatives about claims noted by the judge that Lisa Marie Presley’s signature had allegedly been forged on the purported Deed of Sale. The company has not responded.
A person claiming to be Kurt Naussany, whose name is listed several times in legal documents, said by email that he has “not been affiliated with Naussany Investments & Private Lending since 2015,” and directed further questions to an email with the name Gregory Naussany.
Little is known about Naussany Investments & Private Lending, or the two men whose names are associated with the company. Court records list addresses in both Kimberling City, Missouri — a small town near Branson — and Jacksonville, Florida. A phone number provided is not in service and almost no record of the company seems to exist online.
Naussany Investments and Private Lending LLC claims that the late Lisa Marie Presley signed a Deed of Trust in 2018 securing a $3.8 million loan using Graceland as collateral.
However, the Presley family says those claims are fraudulent.
Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter and heir to Graceland, actress Danielle Riley Keough, said in a 60-page lawsuit against Naussany Investments filed May 15 that her mother never borrowed any money from the company.
County has no deed for Graceland; Elvis Presley’s family calls sale ‘a scam’
“These documents are fraudulent,” the lawsuit stated.
The Shelby County Register of Deeds said Tuesday that the office has no record on file of a deed related to Graceland.
Elvis Presley bought the Graceland mansion in the Whitehaven area of Memphis in 1957. Lisa Marie inherited Graceland after her father’s death in 1977, and it opened to the public as a museum in 1982.
Lisa Marie Presley died in January 2023. Her daughter became heir to the estate and trustee of the Promenade Trust.
About 600,000 visitors tour Graceland each year. The house was named in a survey last year as the most popular museum in the United States.
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