Slightly more info from a People article on the subject: https://people.com/what-is-naussany-investments-company-who-tried-to-sell-graceland-8653138
Slightly more info from a People article on the subject:
On Wednesday, a judge in Memphis halted the foreclosure sale of Graceland scheduled for Thursday, and hours later, someone who claimed to be named Gregory Naussany emailed Keough’s attorneys, saying he’d be withdrawing his claim on Graceland.
Kurt Naussany is listed as a defendant in Keough’s filing, as her attorneys claim he sent “numerous emails” trying to collect the $3.8 million and threatening to sell Graceland. But when reached by PEOPLE via an email listed in the court documents, he responded, “Please do not contact,” and shared an email for Gregory Naussany that bounced back.
Kurt Naussany told NBC News that he left the company in 2015, and that it was Gregory who “handled all loans with Ms. Presley.” Kurt later followed up with the outlet, saying that he knew Lisa Marie for years, but “never did any loans for her.”
PEOPLE’s searches in public databases found no contact information for a Gregory Naussany, though someone claiming to be him reached out to Keough’s attorneys confirming he did not intend to move forward with the company’s claim.
Gregory Naussany also allegedly sent an email confirming the same information to the Memphis Commercial Appeal, though the outlet said the message was “riddled with grammatical errors.”
Naussany Investments could possibly face federal charges for fraud, a source tells PEOPLE. The FBI Memphis division did not confirm or deny the investigation and The Office of the U.S. Attorney had no comment on the possibility when reached by PEOPLE.
According to a source, if an investigation does take place, it would be conducted by the FBI along with the DOJ Memphis bureau and possibly the state. The DOJ would indict the individual(s) if the person was found to be fraudulent and arrests would be made.
That's a really good question. Does anyone have any thoughts on the possible intent outside of just being exceptionally stupid and bold? I'm almost wondering if it was meant to draw greater...
“The chance of succeeding in what they were trying to do — that is, to get the property auctioned off and get the proceeds and then use the money — doesn’t seem to be the actual intent, unless they are incredibly stupid,” Passas said. “So, the question is then, ‘What was the intent, and who was behind it?’”
That's a really good question. Does anyone have any thoughts on the possible intent outside of just being exceptionally stupid and bold? I'm almost wondering if it was meant to draw greater attention and awareness to this type of fraud, but I doubt it's anything that benevolent. Feels more likely it's another con artist bold enough to try to sell the Brooklyn Bridge.
My guess is that it's probably a scam that whoever is behind has pulled on other inherited properties before; Claiming to the new owners that there is an unpaid loan on it from the previous owner,...
My guess is that it's probably a scam that whoever is behind has pulled on other inherited properties before; Claiming to the new owners that there is an unpaid loan on it from the previous owner, and threatening foreclosure in hopes of getting a payout. And if the initial threats fail, filing fraudulent court documents and putting the property up for auction in an attempt to further scare the owners into paying them. But in this case they probably didn't realize who Riley Keough was (granddaughter of Elvis), or how notable the Graceland property is, and that the estate trust that controls it is a serious organization.
But now that the auction has been halted by a court, and the scam has brought on a bunch of media attention they're probably panicking... either that or reveling in the notoriety, since Kurt/Gregory Naussany and Naussany Investments don't seem to actually exist, and their only contact has been via email, so the odds of catching the real culprits seems slim, IMO. Especially since I would be genuinely surprised if they're American, so even if they are eventually identified it would probably require extradition.
Slightly more info from a People article on the subject:
https://people.com/what-is-naussany-investments-company-who-tried-to-sell-graceland-8653138
That's a really good question. Does anyone have any thoughts on the possible intent outside of just being exceptionally stupid and bold? I'm almost wondering if it was meant to draw greater attention and awareness to this type of fraud, but I doubt it's anything that benevolent. Feels more likely it's another con artist bold enough to try to sell the Brooklyn Bridge.
My guess is that it's probably a scam that whoever is behind has pulled on other inherited properties before; Claiming to the new owners that there is an unpaid loan on it from the previous owner, and threatening foreclosure in hopes of getting a payout. And if the initial threats fail, filing fraudulent court documents and putting the property up for auction in an attempt to further scare the owners into paying them. But in this case they probably didn't realize who Riley Keough was (granddaughter of Elvis), or how notable the Graceland property is, and that the estate trust that controls it is a serious organization.
But now that the auction has been halted by a court, and the scam has brought on a bunch of media attention they're probably panicking... either that or reveling in the notoriety, since Kurt/Gregory Naussany and Naussany Investments don't seem to actually exist, and their only contact has been via email, so the odds of catching the real culprits seems slim, IMO. Especially since I would be genuinely surprised if they're American, so even if they are eventually identified it would probably require extradition.