The battle over Elvis Presley’s iconic Graceland mansion has come to a close. Gregory Naussany, who sought to gain control of the Memphis estate, has announced that he is dropping his claims. This decision follows a recent court ruling that blocked the proposed sale, bringing relief to Elvis’s granddaughter, Riley Keough.
The legal dispute was rooted in a contentious loan allegedly taken by Lisa Marie Presley in 2015. Naussany claimed that millions were borrowed, using Graceland as collateral. However, the court found the documentation questionable, leading to the halt of the sale. Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins emphasized the public interest in preserving Graceland, a beloved cultural landmark.
Riley Keough, an actress and Elvis’s granddaughter, had been fighting to protect the estate from what she called a fraudulent sale. Her legal team presented evidence suggesting the documents used to justify the sale were forgeries.
This included a notarized deed of trust with a notary’s seal, which the notary later disavowed, claiming she had never met Lisa Marie Presley.
In an unexpected email to the Daily Mail, Naussany expressed his intention to withdraw all claims, citing the complexities of pursuing legal action across multiple states. He clarified that there was no intent to harm Riley Keough and acknowledged the challenges in proving his case. Naussany’s firm, Naussany Investments & Private Lending, has since ceased all further comments on the matter.
Riley Keough’s lawyer, Jeff Germany, chose not to comment on potential criminal investigations but indicated that the matter might be referred to the Tennessee Attorney General.
The court’s decision to block the sale underscores the importance of Graceland to the Memphis community and its global fanbase. Graceland, visited by over 600,000 people annually, is the second most visited home in the U.S. after the White House.
The legal wrangling began when a foreclosure notice appeared online, claiming Lisa Marie Presley defaulted on a multimillion-dollar loan.
However, no evidence supporting the existence of Naussany Investments could be found in any state or national corporate records. Additionally, the suspicious notary details on the supposed loan documents raised further doubts.
Germany argued that the notary affidavit proved the documents were fraudulent, and the lack of response from Naussany’s representatives in court left the case uncontested. The judge’s ruling to maintain the restraining order against the sale was a victory for Keough, who had fought to establish her ownership of Graceland following a 2023 legal dispute with her grandmother, Priscilla Presley.
