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Elvis Presley’s family targeted in massive fraud scheme by Missouri woman, feds say
A woman was arrested on Friday for her alleged involvement in a scheme to defraud Elvis Presley’s family and steal ownership of the rock star’s Graceland estate, officials said in a news release.
Lisa Jeanine Findley, 53, faces federal charges of mail fraud and aggravated identity theft, and is expected to make her first court appearance in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri later Friday.
According to the complaint, Findley used a variety of names and pretended to be three different people affiliated with a fake private lender called Naussany Investments & Private Lending LLC. Through the fake lender, Findley falsely claimed to lawyers representing Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter Riley Keough that her mother had borrowed $3.8 million and pledged Graceland as collateral, and failed to repay the loan before her death last year.
As part of the scheme, Findley allegedly forged the signatures of Lisa Marie Presley and a Florida notary public on fake loan documents. Findley also allegedly filed a false creditor’s claim with California authorities and filed a fake deed of trust with the Shelby County Register’s Office in Memphis, where Graceland is.
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Findley allegedly sought $2.85 million from the Presley family to settle the false claim. She also allegedly posted a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a Memphis daily newsletter, saying that the fake investment firm was planning to auction Graceland in May. Keough began proceedings to fight the foreclosure, saying at the time that the documents appeared to be false. An injunction was issued against the foreclosure later that month.
Findley also submitted false court filings when the Presley family sued her in Tennessee state court to stop the sale of the estate.
Finally, Findley falsely told media, Tennessee state court officials and the Presley family that the scheme had actually been carried out by a Nigerian identity thief.
If convicted, Findley faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft, and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for mail fraud.
“As a Memphian, I know that Graceland is a national treasure,” said U.S. Attorney Kevin G. Ritz for the Western District of Tennessee in a news release announcing the charges against Findley. “This defendant allegedly used a brazen scheme to try to defraud the Presley family of their interest in this singularly important landmark.”
In 1957, Elvis bought Graceland, named after an aunt of one of the original owners, for $102,500. Elvis died on the property in 1977, and was later buried there. The estate was named to the American National Register of Historic Places in 1991.
Lisa Marie Presley and her son Benjamin Keough are also buried on the estate, along with Presley’s parents and paternal grandmother.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
National Park Service / Jacob W. Frank
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Wagon rolls over at Wisconsin apple orchard injuring about 25 children and adults