Woman arrested for attempted Elvis Presley estate fraud

On Friday, federal authorities arrested and charged a Missouri woman in connection with the fraudulent auction of Elvis Presley's historic Graceland mansion.

Lisa Jeanine Findley – also known as Lisa Holden, Lisa Howell, Gregory Naussany, Kurt Naussany, Lisa Jeanine Sullins and Carolyn Williams – was charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Findley, 53, allegedly posed as three different people from Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC, a fictitious company that claimed the late Lisa Marie Presley borrowed $3.8 million from her and offered Graceland as collateral.

Authorities allege that Findley created several forged documents for his fraud, including a creditor demand in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles, a deed of trust from the Shelby County Registrar's Office in Memphis, and loan documents with the forged signatures of Presley and Florida notary Kimberly L. Philbrick.

Riley Keough, Presley's daughter who inherited Graceland, sued Naussany Investments in May to stop the forced sale of the Memphis estate after Findley allegedly placed a fraudulent advertisement in a local newspaper that the property was up for auction.

For her part, Philbrick filed an affidavit in support of Keough's lawsuit, stating that she did not notarize any documents involving Presley. (She has also since given interviews reiterating that her signature was forged.)

“I have never met Lisa Marie Presley, nor have I ever notarized any document signed by Lisa Marie Presley,” Philbrick's affidavit states. “I do not know why my signature appears on this document.”

Treasury Secretary Joe Dae Jenkins granted Keough's lawsuit to block the sale, but indicated that the court would proceed to determine whether the loan and trust deed were fraudulent.

No representatives from Naussany Investments were present at the hearing. Hours after Jenkins' ruling, a person claiming to be a representative of Naussany Investments filed a statement saying the company intended to drop its claims to Graceland, according to the Associated Press.

CNN could not confirm that Naussany Investments is a Missouri-based company, although the network saw court documents showing the company is based in Kimberling City, Missouri.

The one who actually lived in Kimberling City, however, was Findley, who apparently felt the national attention that the bizarre saga brought to him.

Authorities allege Findley then posed as an identity thief from Nigeria and wrote to the Presley family, the Tennessee state court and members of the press. The New York Times reported in May that it had received a series of emails faxed from a toll-free number and written in staccato Luganda, a Bantu language widely spoken in Uganda.

“We're figuring out how to steal,” the thief wrote to the New York Times. “That's what we do.”

Referring to Keough, the message reportedly continued: “Your client has nothing to fear, win for her. She beat me at my own game.”

Findley will appear in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri on Friday. If found guilty, she faces a minimum of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft and a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for mail fraud.