A judge has blocked the auction of Elvis Presley’s former home, by a company that claimed his estate failed to repay a loan which used the property as collateral.
Shelby County Chancellor JoeDae Jenkins issued a temporary injunction against the proposed auction of Graceland that had been scheduled for Thursday.
Mr Jenkins’ injunction essentially keeps in place a previous restraining order he had issued after the singer’s granddaughter Riley Keough filed a lawsuit to fight what she claimed was a fraudulent scheme.
A public notice for a foreclosure sale of the 13-acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee, posted earlier in May said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owes $3.8m (£3m) after failing to repay a loan taken out in 2018.
Keough, an actor, inherited the trust and ownership of the home following the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, last year.
Naussany Investments and Private Lending said Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the loan, according to the foreclosure sale notice.
Keough alleged that Naussany presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023.
Neither Keough nor lawyers for Nassauny Investments were in court.
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Riley Keough Pic: AP
“Lisa Maria Presley never borrowed money from Naussany Investments and never gave a deed of trust to Naussany Investments,” Keough’s lawyer submitted in the lawsuit.
Kimberly Philbrick, the notary is listed on Nassauny’s documents, indicated that she never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarised any documents for her, the court filing said.
Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 as a tribute to Elvis, five years after the King of Rock n Roll died in aged 42 in 1977.
He purchased Graceland Mansion in 1957 and lived there until his death.
It now draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, and a large Elvis-themed entertainment complex across the road from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises.