‘Nigerian scammer’ takes credit for bizarre Graceland auction scare
A self-described scammer based in Nigeria has claimed responsibility for a bizarre and ultimately unsuccessful attempt to auction off Elvis Presley’s iconic Graceland property.
Earlier this month, a mysterious company called Naussany Investments and Private Lending contacted Promenade Trust, the entity managing the Memphis estate, alleging that Graceland owed millions due to a defaulted loan. The company then attempted to foreclose on the property and auction it off.
Riley Keough, Elvis’ granddaughter who inherited Graceland after her mother Lisa Marie Presley passed away last year, filed a lawsuit against Naussany on May 15. Keough asserted that her mother's signatures on the loan documents were forged and that Naussany is not a legitimate company.
She also sought and received a court order to halt the auction, with the judge pausing the sale just one day before it was set to proceed.
The plot's mastermind came to light when The New York Times reported that a Nigerian individual associated with Naussany’s email address contacted them, taking credit for the scam. This person claimed that they and their associates typically target the vulnerable and elderly, stating, “We figure out how to steal. That’s what we do.”
The email was written in Luganda, a language spoken in Uganda, and included a statement from the scammer: “I had fun figuring this one out, and it didn’t succeed very well.”
Graceland, which Lisa Marie Presley inherited upon her father’s death, has been a public museum since 1982, drawing half a million visitors annually. A spokesperson for Graceland commended the judge’s decision to block the sale, emphasizing the estate's ongoing commitment to providing a world-class experience for Elvis fans.
Real estate experts noted that scammers often target estates of deceased individuals, making it challenging for heirs to disprove fraudulent claims. Mark Sunderman, a real estate professor at the University of Memphis, highlighted the difficulties in contesting such scams posthumously.
Attempts to verify details about Naussany Investments and Private Lending were thwarted by a lack of public records and unreliable contact information. The company did not appear at a recent hearing concerning Graceland, though it filed papers denying Keough’s allegations and requested more time to prepare a defense.
Nikos Passas, a criminology professor at Northeastern University, suggested that the scammers likely knew auctioning off Graceland was impractical, speculating their intent might have been more complex than simply profiting from the sale.
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