Missouri woman sentenced for hare-brained scheme to steal Elvis Presley’s Graceland – National & International News – TUE 23Sep2025
Missouri woman sentenced for hare-brained scheme to steal Elvis Presley’s Graceland.
Days from shutdown, Trump refuses to meet with Democrat leaders.
Missouri woman sentenced for hare-brained scheme to steal Elvis Presley’s Graceland
On Tuesday, a federal judged sentenced Lisa Jeanine Findley, 54, to 57 months in prison plus three years’ probation for her brazen attempt to defraud Elvis Presley’s estate and sell his Memphis home Graceland at auction. Lisa Jeanine Findley is just one of many aliases used by the Missouri grandmother who has a decades-long history of small-time grifts, frauds and swindles.
Her scheme to steal Graceland started in 2023 when she (posing as someone called Kurt Naussany) began sending demands for payment to Elvis’s granddaughter, Riley Keough. Findley was demanding payment on a $3.8 million loan that she claimed Keough’s recently-deceased mother Lisa Marie had taken out, putting Graceland up as collateral.
After submitting forged papers with the signature of a Florida notary (who appeared not to be involved in the scheme), Findley then moved to put Graceland up for auction. She even posted a public auction notice in the Commercial Appeal in May 2024. Keough’s lawyers then moved to stop the auction, saying it was fraudulent. A Shelby County judge halted the auction. A hearing later took place to evaluate the validity of the claims. The judge found in Keough’s favor, after neither Findley, nor the fictional Naussany, appeared in court. However, someone claiming to be an associate of Naussany did send taunting letters to the press.
NBC News managed to track Findley down at her home in southwest Missouri. She denied all knowledge of the scheme and claimed her identity had been stolen. Weeks later, Findley was arrested and charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. Findley later pleaded guilty to the mail fraud charge in exchange for the identity theft charge being dropped.
Days from shutdown, Trump refuses to meet with Democrat leaders
On October 1, Congress must either pass a short-term federal funding bill or face a partial government shutdown. Last week, the House passed a continuing resolution funding the government at current levels for a few weeks. But Democrats in the Senate refused to vote for the bill, which needs 60 votes to pass. A Democrat-proposed alternative, which also restores $900 billion in Medicaid funds that were cut in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”, also failed to pass.
At an impasse, Trump yesterday agreed to meet with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) at the White House. This was surprising since Trump had forbidden Congressional Republicans from negotiating with their Democrats colleagues. Today, Trump canceled the meeting, leaving no obvious way forward.
After caving in a similar negotiation in March, Democrats are under pressure to make a stand against Trump and the Republicans. Using the funding bill (one of the only times the minority party has leverage), Democrats are pushing to reverse the Medicaid cuts. These cuts to health coverage for low-income Americans were extremely unpopular among both Democratic and Republican voters.
Related:
Rural health clinics are already starting to close after crippling Medicaid cuts.
Other news of note:
It’s that time of year again: Don’t forget to vote for Fat Bear Week!
Family says ICE held 5-year-old autistic daughter to pressure father to surrender.
Elon Musk’s father Errol accused of sexually abusing his children and stepchildren.
Judge orders Trump to restore $500 million in funding to UCLA.
Trump links Tylenol use to autism, a claim not backed up by science. FDA backs treatment of some types of autism with cancer drug. Some studies have shown promise for using this drug with patients with certain forms of autism, but evidence remains “weak”.
