EGN NEWS DESK
Graceland is not going to be offered at public sale, no less than for now.
On Wednesday, a Tennessee judge deferred ruling on an obvious try to promote Graceland, Elvis Presley’s former residence in Memphis, however stored a brief injunction in place that will forestall the property from going to public sale imminently.
The weird case got here into broad public view this week when a lawsuit surfaced that had been filed by Mr. Presley’s granddaughter, the actress Riley Keough. In it, Ms. Keough sued to stop what her attorneys described as a fraudulent effort to public sale the house by an organization claiming that Lisa Marie Presley — Ms. Keough’s mom and Mr. Presley’s daughter — had borrowed $3.8 million and put Graceland up as collateral earlier than she died in 2023.
At Wednesday’s listening to at Chancery Court in Shelby County, Tenn., the judge, Chancellor JoeDae L. Jenkins, mentioned he wanted to proceed the case, partially as a result of nobody confirmed up in particular person to characterize the corporate looking for to promote Graceland and partially as a result of he mentioned attorneys for Ms. Keough wanted to current extra proof.
“Graceland is part of this neighborhood, effectively liked by this neighborhood and certainly world wide,” Chancellor Jenkins mentioned through the listening to, which lasted roughly 10 minutes. Delaying the trial, he reasoned, would permit for “sufficient discovery” to happen.
The defendants included an organization, Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC, which had scheduled a sale of Graceland for Thursday, in accordance with courtroom papers. The courtroom mentioned it had obtained a submitting on Wednesday morning from a person named Gregory Naussany who had requested the courtroom to proceed the case.
It was not clear when the subsequent listening to would happen.
Lawyers for Ms. Keough had argued that the corporate seemed to be a “false entity.” They additionally claimed that the corporate had offered faux paperwork purporting to point out that Ms. Presley had borrowed the cash and put Graceland up as collateral.
Several makes an attempt to achieve Naussany Investments via the e-mail addresses and telephone numbers listed for the corporate within the courtroom paperwork haven’t been profitable.
After the listening to, Jeff Germany, a lawyer for Ms. Keough, mentioned he had not had “any direct contact” with the defendants within the case. He declined to touch upon whether or not attorneys for the property had requested regulation enforcement to research potential fraud.
Later Wednesday, The Commercial Appeal reported that it had gotten an “e mail assertion riddled with grammatical errors” from somebody figuring out himself as Gregory Naussany who mentioned that Naussany Investments was withdrawing its claims.
On Wednesday night Elvis Presley Enterprises instructed The New York Times {that a} lawyer for the household’s belief had obtained an e mail from an individual purporting to be Gregory Naussany who mentioned that Naussany Investments didn’t intend to maneuver ahead with its declare.
Electronic courtroom information didn’t point out that any new motions had been filed within the Shelby County courtroom system as of late Wednesday. Officials on the chancery courtroom clerk’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to inquiries about whether or not the declare was being withdrawn.
Graceland, a preferred vacationer attraction, is a significant supply of earnings for Elvis Presley Enterprises and the household belief, which Ms. Keough controls.
In 2005, going through mounting debt, Ms. Presley offered 85 % of Elvis Presley Enterprises, which conducts enterprise and manages and operates property like Graceland. The household, via its belief, retains 15 % of Elvis Presley Enterprises and owns the primary Graceland home, appraised at $5.6 million in 2021.
In a press release issued on Wednesday after the courtroom proceedings, Graceland reiterated that there was “no validity to the claims” made by Naussany Investments and that “there shall be no foreclosures.”
“Graceland will proceed to function because it has for the previous 42 years,” the assertion mentioned, “making certain that Elvis followers from world wide can proceed to have a best-in-class expertise when visiting his iconic residence.”
On Wednesday afternoon, guests to Graceland had been busy scribbling tributes to the King of Rock ’n’ Roll on the brick wall that traces Elvis Presley Boulevard.
As Denise Hutchins of New Jersey scribbled her identify, she expressed ambivalence about any potential possession switch.
“Who would care?” she mentioned, including one stipulation: “As lengthy as they don’t change what really belongs to him.”
Kitty Bennett contributed analysis. Laura Kebede-Twumasi is a reporter on the Institute for Public Service Reporting on the University of Memphis.
