MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee lawyer normal’s workplace mentioned Tuesday that it has turned over its investigation into the failed sale of Elvis Presley’s residence Graceland at a foreclosure auction to federal authorities, a newspaper reported.
The Business Enchantment reported that Amy Lannom Wilhite, a spokesperson for Tennessee Lawyer Basic Jonathan Skrmetti, mentioned in an announcement that the investigation into the tried foreclosures sale of the outstanding vacationer attraction “was a matter greatest suited to federal regulation enforcement.”
“We think about our federal companions and know they’ll deal with this appropriately,” the assertion mentioned.
It was not instantly clear Tuesday which federal authorities can be investigating. Wilhite didn’t instantly returns calls, texts and emails requesting the assertion.
An FBI Memphis spokesperson mentioned the FBI doesn’t touch upon the likelihood or chance of investigations and he declined additional remark.
Skrmetti mentioned Could 23 that he was investigating the tried foreclosures sale of Graceland, Presley’s former home-turned-museum in Memphis, the place the King of Rock n’ Roll lived earlier than he died in 1977 at age 42.
The announcement got here after the proposed auction was halted by an injunction issued by Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins after Riley Keough, Presley’s granddaughter, filed a lawsuit claiming fraud.
A public discover for a foreclosures sale of the 13-acre (5-hectare) property posted in Could mentioned Promenade Belief, which controls the Graceland museum, owes $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 mortgage. Keough, an actor, inherited the belief and possession of the house after the demise of her mom, Lisa Marie Presley, final 12 months.
Naussany Investments and Non-public Lending mentioned Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the mortgage, in keeping with the foreclosures sale discover. Keough’s lawsuit alleged that Naussany offered fraudulent paperwork relating to the mortgage in September 2023 and that Lisa Maria Presley by no means borrowed cash from Naussany.
Court docket paperwork included firm addresses in Jacksonville, Florida, and Hollister, Missouri. Each had been for submit places of work, and a Kimberling Metropolis, Missouri, reference was for a submit workplace field. The enterprise additionally shouldn’t be listed in state databases of registered companies in Missouri or Florida.
Kimberly Philbrick, the notary whose identify is listed on Naussany’s paperwork, indicated she by no means met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any paperwork for her, in keeping with the property’s lawsuit. Jenkins, the decide, mentioned the notary’s affidavit brings into query “the authenticity of the signature.”
A search of on-line information for the Monetary Trade Regulatory Authority confirmed no registration for the corporate. No representatives of Naussany appeared in courtroom, although the corporate filed an unsuccessful movement denying the lawsuit’s allegations and opposing the property’s request for an injunction.
An announcement emailed to The Related Press after the decide stopped the sale mentioned Naussany wouldn’t proceed as a result of a key doc within the case and the mortgage had been recorded and obtained in a unique state, which means “authorized motion must be filed in a number of states.” The assertion, despatched from an e mail handle listed in courtroom paperwork, didn’t specify the opposite state.
An e mail despatched Could 25 to the AP from the identical handle mentioned in Spanish that the foreclosures sale try was made by a Nigerian fraud ring that targets previous and useless individuals within the U.S. and makes use of the Web to steal cash.
Keough’s lawsuit stays energetic. No future hearings have been set.
Graceland opened as a museum and vacationer attraction in 1982 and attracts a whole lot of hundreds of holiday makers every year. A big Presley-themed leisure advanced throughout the road from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises.
Photograph: Elvis Presley along with his girlfriend on the time, Yvonne Lime, at his residence, Graceland, in Memphis, round 1957. (AP Photograph, File)
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