Editing Graceland (section)

== History ==
Graceland Farms was originally owned by Stephen C. Toof, founder of [[Toof Building|S.C. Toof & Co.]], the oldest commercial printing firm in Memphis. He worked previously as the pressroom foreman of the Memphis newspaper, the ''[[Memphis Daily Appeal]]''. The site (before the mansion was built in 1939) was named after Toof's daughter, Grace. She inherited the property from her father in 1894. After her death, the property passed to her niece Ruth Moore, a Memphis socialite. Together with her husband, Thomas Moore, Ruth Moore commissioned construction of a {{convert|10266|sqft|m2|adj=on}} [[Colonial Revival architecture|Colonial Revival]] style mansion in 1939.<ref>{{cite book |title=Graceland: Going Home With Elvis |first=Karal Ann |last=Marling |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-674-35889-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/gracelandgoingho00marl_0/page/137 137] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gracelandgoingho00marl_0}}</ref> The house was designed by architects Furbringer and Ehrman.<ref name="nrhpdoc">{{cite web |url={{NRHP url |id=91001585}}|title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: Graceland |publisher=[[National Park Service]]|first=Jennifer M. |last=Tucker |date=September 1991 |access-date=January 19, 2020}} With {{NRHP url|id=91001585|photos=y|title=accompanying 41 photos}}</ref>

[[File:Graceland sign.jpg|thumb|Graceland main entrance sign]]
After [[Elvis Presley]] began his musical career, he purchased a $40,000 home for himself and his family at [[Elvis Presley House|1034 Audubon Drive]] in Memphis in 1956.<ref name="G29">{{Cite book |last=Flippo |first=Chet |title=Graceland: Living Legacy of Elvis Presley |year=1993 |publisher=Mitchell Beazley |isbn=978-1-85732-255-2 |page=29}}</ref><ref name="EPNews3">{{cite web |title=Elvis Presley's 1956 Home : 1034 Audubon Drive, Memphis, TN |url=http://graceland.elvis.com.au/1034-audubon-drive-memphis-tennessee.html |website=Elvis Presley News|access-date=October 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527073913/http://graceland.elvis.com.au/1034-audubon-drive-memphis-tennessee.html|archive-date=May 27, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> As his success and fame grew, especially after his appearances on television, the number of fans who would congregate outside the house increased.<ref name="G29" /> Presley's neighbors, although happy to have a celebrity living nearby, concluded that the constant gathering of fans and journalists was a nuisance.<ref name="G29" />

In early 1957, Presley gave his parents, Vernon and Gladys Presley, a budget of $100,000 and asked them to find a "farmhouse"-like property to purchase, with buffer space around it.<ref name="Graceland">{{harvnb|Victor|2008|pages=205–209}}</ref> At the time, Graceland was located in southern Shelby County, several miles south of Memphis's main urban area.<ref name="Graceland" /> In later years, Memphis expanded with residential developments, resulting in Graceland being surrounded by other properties.<ref name="Graceland" /> Presley purchased Graceland on March 19, 1957, for a price of $102,500.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/elvis-presley-puts-a-downpayment-on-graceland |title=Elvis Presley puts a down payment on Graceland |publisher=History |access-date=January 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150917002148/http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/elvis-presley-puts-a-downpayment-on-graceland |archive-date=September 17, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Later that year, Presley invited Richard Williams and singer [[Buzz Cason]] to the house. Cason said: "We proceeded to clown around on the front porch, striking our best rock 'n' roll poses and snapping pictures with the little camera. We peeked in the not-yet-curtained windows and got a kick out of the pastel colored walls in the front rooms with shades of bright reds and purples that Elvis most certainly had picked out."<ref>[[Buzz Cason]], ''Living the Rock 'N' Roll Dream: The Adventures of Buzz Cason'' (2004), p.47.</ref> Presley was fond of claiming that the US government had mooted a visit to Graceland by [[Nikita Khrushchev]] of the Soviet Union, "to see how in America a fellow can start out with nothing and, you know, make good."<ref name="graceland2006">{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/mar/27/talkingaboutgraceland |first=John |last=Harris |title=Talking about Graceland |newspaper=The Guardian |date=March 27, 2006|access-date=November 20, 2019|archive-date=January 13, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200113165026/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/mar/27/talkingaboutgraceland|url-status=live}}</ref>

After Gladys died in 1958 aged 46, Presley's father Vernon married Dee Stanley in 1960, and the couple lived at Graceland for a time. There was some discord between Presley and his stepmother Dee at Graceland, however. [[Elaine Dundy]], who wrote about Presley and his mother, said that
<blockquote>Vernon had settled down with Dee where Gladys had once reigned, while Dee herself – when Elvis was away – had taken over the role of mistress of Graceland so thoroughly as to rearrange the furniture and replace the very curtains that Gladys had approved of." This was too much for Presley, who still loved his late mother deeply. One afternoon, "a van arrived ... and all Dee's household's goods, clothes, 'improvements,' and her own menagerie of pets, were loaded on ... while Vernon, Dee and her three children went by car to a nearby house on Hermitage until they finally settled into a house on Dolan Drive which ran alongside Elvis's estate.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Elaine Dundy |first=Elaine |last=Dundy |title=Elvis and Gladys |date=2004 |pages=329–330}}</ref></blockquote>

According to [[Mark Crispin Miller]], Graceland became for Presley "the home of the organization that was himself, was tended by a large vague clan of Presleys and deputy Presleys, each squandering the vast gratuities which Elvis used to keep his whole world smiling." The author adds that Presley's father Vernon "had a swimming pool in his bedroom", that there "was a jukebox next to the swimming pool, containing Elvis's favorite records", and that, he "would spend hours in his bedroom, watching his property on a closed-circuit television".<ref>{{cite book |first=Mark Crispin |last=Miller |title=Boxed In: The Culture of TV |url=https://archive.org/details/boxedincultureof00mill|url-access=registration |publisher=Northwestern University Press |date=1988 |page=[https://archive.org/details/boxedincultureof00mill/page/192 192]}}</ref> According to Presley's cousin, Billy Smith, Presley slept  at Graceland with Smith and his wife Jo many times: "we were all three there talking for hours about everything in the world! Sometimes he would have a bad dream and come looking for me to talk to, and he would actually fall asleep in our bed with us."<ref>[http://www.elvisinfonet.com/interview_billysmith_part2.html Billy Smith interview Part Two." Elvis Information Network] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212080317/http://www.elvisinfonet.com/interview_billysmith_part2.html |date=February 12, 2015}}.</ref>

[[Priscilla Presley]] and Elvis married in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 1, 1967.<ref>See [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/elvis/story/0,12333,773482,00.html Tracy McVeigh, "Love me tender"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218172104/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/aug/11/elvis25yearson.elvispresley3 |date=February 18, 2021}}, ''[[The Observer]]'', August 11, 2002.</ref> Their daughter [[Lisa Marie Presley]] was born on February 1, 1968, and lived the first years of her life on the estate. After her parents divorced in 1972, her mother moved with Lisa to California. Every year around Christmas, Lisa Marie Presley and all her family would go to Graceland to celebrate Christmas together. Lisa Marie often returned to Graceland for visits.

When Elvis toured, staying in hotels, "the rooms would be remodeled in advance of his arrival, so as to make the same configurations of space as he had at home – the Graceland mansion. His furniture would arrive, and he could unwind after his performances in surroundings which were completely familiar and comforting." 'The Jungle Room' was described as being "an example of particularly lurid kitsch."<ref>{{cite book |first=Andrew |last=Ballantyne |chapter=The Nest and the Pillar of Fire |title=What Is Architecture? |date=2002 |page=24}}</ref>

[[File:Designation of Graceland Mansion as a National Historic Landmark 2006.jpg|thumb|left|(l–r) Elvis Enterprises chief Jack Soden, Priscilla Presley, and United States Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton March 2006]]
On August 16, 1977, Presley died aged 42 in his bathroom at Graceland. The official cause of death was cardiac arrhythmia, although later  toxicology reports strongly suggested that polypharmacy was the primary cause of death; "fourteen drugs were found in Elvis's system, with several drugs such as codeine in significant quantities.<ref>{{harvnb|Guralnick|1999|pages=651–53}}</ref> Presley lay in repose in a {{convert|900|lb|adj=on}}, copper-lined coffin just inside the foyer; more than 3,500 of his mourning fans passed by to pay their respects. A private funeral with 200 mourners was held on August 18, 1977, in the house, with the casket placed in front of the stained glass doorway of the music room. Graceland continued to be occupied by members of the family until the death of Presley's aunt Delta in 1993, who had moved in at Elvis's invitation after her husband's death.<ref>Blanchard, Tamsin (August 11, 2002). [https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/aug/11/elvis25yearson.elvispresley5 Elvis has left the building] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160927193832/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/aug/11/elvis25yearson.elvispresley5 |date=September 27, 2016}}. ''[[The Guardian]]''.</ref>
Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, inherited the estate in 1993 when she turned 25.<ref>[http://www.elvis.com/elvisology/history/elvis_estate.asp The Estate of Elvis Presley/The Elvis Presley Trust: EPE History and Structure: All About Elvis<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080321014027/http://www.elvis.com/elvisology/history/elvis_estate.asp |date=March 21, 2008}}</ref>

Presley's grave, along with those of his parents Gladys and Vernon Presley, his grandmother Minnie Mae Presley, Elvis's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, and his grandson Benjamin Keough are located in the Meditation Garden next to the mansion. They can be visited during the mansion tours or for free before the mansion tours begin. A memorial gravestone for Presley's [[stillbirth|stillborn]] twin brother, Jesse Garon, is also at the site.

In 2019, the owners of Graceland{{who|date=August 2023}} threatened to leave Memphis unless the city provided [[tax incentive]]s. The Memphis City Council subsequently voted on a deal to help fund a $100 million expansion of Graceland.<ref>{{cite news |last=Bauerlein |first=Valerie {{!}} Photographs by Andrea Morales for The Wall Street|date=April 7, 2019|title=Memphis Offers to Pay to Keep Graceland|language=en-US|work=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/memphis-offers-to-pay-to-keep-graceland-11554638400|access-date=December 9, 2020|issn=0099-9660|archive-date=February 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218172023/https://www.wsj.com/articles/memphis-offers-to-pay-to-keep-graceland-11554638400|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=July 3, 2019 |title=Memphis council backs part of Graceland expansion plan |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/memphis-council-backs-part-of-graceland-expansion-plan-1.4493457?cache=yes%3FautoPlay%3Dtrue%3FclipId%3D375756%3FautoPlay%3Dtrue|access-date=December 9, 2020 |website=CTVNews |language=en|archive-date=February 18, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210218172014/https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/memphis-council-backs-part-of-graceland-expansion-plan-1.4493457?cache=yes%3FautoPlay%3Dtrue%3FclipId%3D375756%3FautoPlay%3Dtrue|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Attempted foreclosure ===
The property was slated for a foreclosure sale in May 2024. A company alleged that Lisa Marie Presley put the home up as security on a $3.8{{nbsp}}million loan in 2018. Riley Keough claimed the documents underlying the foreclosure are fraudulent and sued to stop the sale. Elvis Presley Enterprises, which manages the rest of the Presley estate, concurred with Keough's claims.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Razek |first1=Raja |title=Elvis' granddaughter fights Graceland foreclosure sale and alleges fraud {{!}} CNN Business |url=https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/20/business/graceland-elvis-granddaughter-fights-foreclosure-sale/index.html |access-date=21 May 2024 |work=CNN |date=21 May 2024 |language=en}}</ref> In a hearing on May 22, JoeDae Jenkins of the Shelby County Chancery Court declared the lender's claims as invalid. No representative for the lender appeared at the hearing.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-delays-graceland-sale-suggests-elvis-granddaughter-riley-keough-rcna153472 |title=Judge delays Graceland sale, suggests Elvis' granddaughter Riley Keough could win fraud claims |last1=Kakouris-Solarana |first1=Carla |last2=Arcodia |first2=Juliette |last3=Li |first3=David K. |date=May 22, 2024 |work=[[NBC News]] |access-date=May 22, 2024}}</ref> The lender subsequently dropped plans to go ahead with the foreclosure without addressing Chancellor Jenkins' allegations.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://wmbdradio.com/2024/05/22/company-drops-plan-to-auction-graceland-after-judge-blocks-sale-amid-fraud-claims/ |title=Company drops plan to auction Graceland after judge blocks sale amid fraud claims |last=Ax |first=Joseph |editor-last=Oatis |editor-first=Jonathan |date=May 22, 2024 |agency=[[Reuters]] |via=[[WMBD (AM)|WMBD]]|access-date=May 22, 2024}}</ref> [[NBC News]] tried without success to find Naussany Investments & Private Lending and its representative, Gregory E. Naussany, in public records.<ref name=publicrecords>{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/company-center-battle-elvis-graceland-mystery-rcna153619 |title=The company at the center of a battle over Elvis' Graceland is a mystery |last1=Schuppe |first1=Jon |last2=Arcodia |first2=Juliette |last3=Antonshchuk |first3=Valeriya |last4=Li |first4=David K. |date=May 22, 2024 |work=NBC News |access-date=May 23, 2024}}</ref> A real estate professor at the [[University of Memphis]] has said, "[I]f this had been someone else's inheritance, someone else's home, it would just be another example [of real estate fraud] that the public never hears about."<ref name=publicrecords /> 

A ring of [[identity theft|identity thieves]] based in Nigeria has claimed to be behind the scheme.<ref name=schemersrevealed>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/arts/music/graceland-fraud-identity-thief-emails.html |title=Who Plotted to Sell Graceland? An Identity Thief Raises His Hand. |last=Stevens |first=Matt |date=May 28, 2024 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=June 12, 2024}}</ref> Speaking to the ''[[New York Times]]'' via email which was written in [[Luganda]], a ring leader of this group stated that the organization which he belonged to had a network of “worms” placed throughout the United States and would, among other things, prey on the dead.<ref name=schemersrevealed /> Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC would, in fact, file the legal claim which alleged Lisa Marie Presley owed them $2.8{{nbsp}}million in a California probate court in September 2023, eight months after her death.<ref name=schemersrevealed /> The ''Times'' would also concede that it was difficult to find evidence that Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC was even an existing company.<ref name=schemersrevealed />

On August 16, 2024, Missouri woman Lisa Jeanine Findley, who is also known by Lisa Holden and many other aliases, was arrested.<ref name=arrestmade /> The U.S. Department of Justice charged Findley with identity theft and mail fraud connected to the attempt to extort the Elvis Presley family into selling Graceland.<ref name=arrestmade>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/missouri-woman-charged-alleged-scheme-steal-graceland-extort-elvis-pre-rcna166915|title=Missouri woman charged in an alleged scheme to steal Graceland and extort Elvis Presley family|first1=Marlene|last1=Lenthang|first2=Brandy|last2=Zadronzy|publisher=NBC News|date=August 16, 2024|access-date=August 16, 2024}}</ref> Findley would make an appearance in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri on August 16, 2024 in a hearing that lasted seven minutes.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/2024/music/news/elvis-presley-graceland-scheme-defraud-millions-steal-ownership-woman-arrested-1236108929/|title= Lisa Jeanine Findley, who has also gone by the names Lisa Holden, Lisa Howell, Gregory Naussany, Kurt Naussany, Lisa Jeanine Sullins and Carolyn Williams|first=Ellise|last=Shafer|publisher=Variety|date=August 16, 2024|access-date=August 16, 2024}}</ref> During her arraignment, Findley waived her right to a preliminary hearing or detention hearing and agreed to have those hearings take place in the prosecuting court, the Western District of Tennessee.<ref name=arrestmade /> The U.S. government moved for detention, and Findley was ordered to be removed to the Western District of Tennessee.<ref name=arrestmade /> She remains in custody.<ref name=arrestmade /> On January 25, 2025, Findley pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, and will be sentenced on June 19.<ref>{{cite web | last=Griffith | first=Ed | last2=Kofsky | first2=Jared | last3=Margolin | first3=Josh | last4=Deliso | first4=Meredith | title=Suspect in Graceland fraud pleads guilty in connection with scheme | website=ABC News | date=February 25, 2025 | url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/suspect-graceland-fraud-suspect-pleads-guilty-connection-scheme/story?id=119166390 | access-date=February 25, 2025}}</ref>

According to the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Public Affairs, Findley "posed as three different individuals" affiliated with the "fictitious private lender" in order to falsely accuse the late Lisa Marie of borrowing $3.8 million from Naussany Investments in 2018.<ref name=findleyposes /> Findley also "allegedly fabricated loan documents" on which she "forged the signatures of Elvis Presley’s daughter and a Florida State notary public. Findley then allegedly filed a false creditor’s claim with the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles, and a fake deed of trust with the Shelby County Register’s Office in Memphis" and was, in fact, the one who "allegedly published a fraudulent foreclosure notice."<ref name=findleyposes>{{cite news|url=https://people.com/missouri-woman-arrested-and-charged-in-scheme-to-sell-elvis-presley-graceland-8696560|title=Missouri Woman Arrested and Charged in Scheme to Sell Elvis Presley's Graceland|first=Njera|last=Perkins|publisher=People|date=August 16, 2024|access-date=August 16, 2024}}</ref> Despite Findley's direct role, a Graceland official claimed to celebrity news site ''The Blast'' that Graceland did not believe Findley was the scam's mastermind, stating that "We think this is the first domino to fall, not the last. We do not believe this is the mastermind behind the scam."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://theblast.com/620835/woman-involved-in-elvis-presleys-graceland-fraud-arrested-and-charged/|title=Elvis Presley's Graceland Home Saved From Fraud|first=Afouda|last=Bamidele|publisher=The Blast|date=August 16, 2024|access-date=August 16, 2024}}</ref> Prosecutors have also stated that the person responsible for the scheme was an identity thief based in Nigeria.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/graceland-fraud-missouri-woman-charged-scheme-sell-landmark-1235977100/|title=Graceland Fraud: Charges Brought in Multimillion-Dollar Scheme to Sell Presley Family Landmark|first=Winston|last=Cho|publisher=The Hollywood Reporter|date=August 16, 2024|access-date=August 16, 2024}}</ref> At the time of Findley's arrest, it was acknowledged that Kimberly L. Philbrick, the Florida notary whose name Findley forged, had, in fact, sided with Riley Keough in her lawsuit against Naussany Investments.<ref name=pillbrickmakespublic /> In an affidavit, Philbrick stated that “I have never met Lisa Marie Presley, nor have I ever notarized a document signed by Lisa Marie Presley” and that “I do not know why my signature appears on this document.”<ref name=pillbrickmakespublic>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2024-08-16/missouri-woman-arrested-defraud-elvis-presley-estate-graceland|title=Missouri woman who tried to grab Graceland arrested for allegedly defrauding Presley estate|first=Angie Orellana|last=Hernandez|work=Los Angeles Times|date=August 16, 2024|access-date=August 16, 2024}}</ref> Findley was also confirmed to have had history of similar criminal cases in the state of Oklahoma, which led to numerous arrests and her serving prison time in both Oklahoma and a Texas federal prison.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/woman-charged-with-trying-to-defraud-elvis-presleys-family-through-sale-of-iconic-graceland/article_8695daa4-5be5-11ef-b615-cff42e3b8471.html|title=Missouri woman accused of extorting Elvis Presley's family previously charged in Okla.|publisher=Fox23.com|date=August 16, 2024|access-date=August 17, 2024}}</ref>