Riley Keough has gotten good news in her legal battle to stop the foreclosure sale of Graceland.
A Tennessee judge granted a temporary injunction on Wednesday against the auction that had been scheduled for Thursday. This puts the sale of the estate on ice until a hearing takes place to determine the rightful owner.
🚨What just happened?
The Daisy Jones & the Six actress, who became the sole trustee of her grandfather Elvis Presley’s Memphis estate after the 2023 death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, scored a legal victory (for now) when Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins issued the temporary injunction on Wednesday morning.
The injunction means Naussany Investments & Private Lending, which was auctioning the home, had to call off the sale. Naussany had claimed the auction was to collect on an unpaid $3.8 million loan taken out by Lisa Marie in 2018, which used Graceland as collateral.
Neither Keough nor legal representatives for Naussany Investments were in court.
Keough filed a civil lawsuit last week to block the company from auctioning the tourist destination, deeming the sale “fraudulent.” She said her mother “never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust to Naussany Investments.”
In the filing, Keough asked the court to grant a restraining order against the creditor, “or any party acting in concert,” to block “any non-judicial sale of the property.” She alleged that the business “is not a real entity” and was “created for the purpose of defrauding” Keough’s (previously Lisa Marie’s) Promenade Trust. Further, Keough claims Lisa Marie’s signature was forged on the alleged loan documents, and the notary listed as a witness says they never met Lisa Marie.
“The note and deed of trust are fraudulent and unenforceable,” Keough alleged in the suit. She said “those individuals who were involved in the creation of such documents are believed to be guilty of the crime of forgery.”
Elvis Presley Enterprises — the corporate entity that runs Graceland — has backed Keough’s claims that it’s “fraudulent. There is no foreclosure sale. Simply put, the counter lawsuit has been filed to stop the fraud.”
Priscilla Presley, Elvis’s former wife and Keough’s grandmother, has also deemed it a “scam.”
↩️ How we got here
Last summer, Keough was granted control of the Graceland home, Elvis’s belongings and 15 percent of Elvis Presley Enterprises after her mother’s sudden death and her brief legal battle with Priscilla.
In September, Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC sued the estate, claiming Lisa Marie defaulted on the loan, which was supposed to have been paid off by May 2022. The company claimed it had no contact with Lisa Marie after March 2022 and that attempts to reach her were unsuccessful. Naussany Investments said it would drop the lawsuit if the estate paid 75% percent of the debt, or around $2.85 million, within 45 days.
Lisa Marie had financial problems during her life. She inherited her father’s estate, worth an estimated $100 million, when she was 25. Failed business deals and overspending led to her selling 85 percent of the stake in Elvis Presley Enterprises in 2005. (She later sued her former business manager, Barry Siegel, claiming he mismanaged the estate.) In the $114 million sale, Lisa Marie received $50 million cash, $26 million in stock and had $25 million of debt erased. She retained 15 percent of Elvis Presley Enterprises as well as ownership of Graceland and its original items. Elvis Presley Enterprises changed hands again in 2013 with Lisa Marie retaining her stake.
Lisa Marie was buried at Graceland last year, near her father, grandparents and son Benjamin Keough, who died in 2020. In an interview after her mother’s death, Keough talked about what the estate meant to her and her plans for Graceland, which included a December Christmas special she produced.
As sole trustee, Keough also manages the sub-trusts of her two younger siblings, 15-year-old half-sisters Finley and Harper Lockwood, who are Lisa Marie’s daughters from her marriage to musician Michael Lockwood.
Updated, May 22, 2024 11:31 a.m. ET: This story has been updated to reflect the auction was blocked.
Laura Davis is an entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to Broadway, she offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
