1909: The Woman Who Almost Stole Graceland

Speaker: The surprising headline involving Graceland, the famed home of Elvis Presley. Elvis Presley's famous estate nearly went into foreclosure after an alleged plot to steal it. It's the latest in the saga surrounding one of the most iconic landmarks in American culture, Elvis's home, Graceland. Yes, you heard right. Someone tried to steal Graceland from the Presley family. And they almost pulled it off, too. Luckily, a judge stopped the sale just one day before going to auction. But how is that possible? In order to explain how Elvis house almost went for sale, we have to rewind the clock back to January of 2023 Breaking news. Lisa Marie Presley, the daughter of Elvis Presley, has died. eight months after Lisa Marie Presley's death, a company calling itself Nani Investments, filed papers in probate court in California. get this claiming that Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for a loan. At first, everyone was wondering, is this even true? Did Elvis daughter really use her iconic family home as collateral for a loan? And who is behind this Nisani Investment company? The Presley family had no idea. Well, it turns out that one journalist followed the trail of clues that led her to a trailer lined with garden gnomes in the middle of the Ozark Mountains. I'm Javier Leyva, and this is Pretend. Stories about real people, real stories. Pretending to be someone else ///INTRO///BACKGROUND ON GRACELAND On August 16th, 1977, Elvis Presley was found face down on the bathroom floor with his pants wrapped around his ankles. He died of a heart attack, likely from his addiction to sedatives and other prescription drugs. In his will, Elvis Presley named his nine year old daughter, Lisa Marie, as the sole heir of Graceland. In fact, Elvis estate includes licensing, royalties from records, music publishing and videos. Elvis earns more money dead than he was alive. Graceland is like Mecca. Hundreds of thousands of tourists from around the world visit Graceland each year. to this day. Fans and Elvis tribute artists travel to Memphis to pay respect on Elvis's death anniversary and return every year to celebrate his birthday. And yes, they prefer to be called Elvis tribute artists and not Elvis impersonators. It's a really touchy subject. Trust me. I know I used to live in Memphis for 10 years. But Graceland wasn't always a tourist destination. For years, Graceland sat empty. Priscilla Elvis's ex-wife, maintained the mansion hoping that their daughter, Lisa Marie, would one day move back into her father's home, but the price to maintain the property and pay for taxes forced them to open the king's home to the public. Graceland is one of the most visited private homes in the country. that's why it's so shocking that this famous home Was on the verge of getting sold to the highest bidder. That's why it's so shocking that this famous home was on the verge of getting sold to the highest bidder. No one saw that coming. Introduction to the Rabbit Hole Javier: The TikTok Discovery and Article Discussion Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: The Lisa Marie Presley Loan Scandal When this story broke, everyone wanted answers, but only one reporter was curious enough to unravel this mystery. Brandi Zadrozny is a reporter with NBC News. We hopped on a call to talk about her investigation

Javier: there's this claim that Lisa Marie Presley had taken out 3.

Speaker: 8 million loan using Graceland as collateral. And there was this like hair on fire moment right in the courts down in Shelby County, Memphis, right?

Brandy: Yeah I mean, it was a crazy, it was one of those stories where like, Everybody everywhere is all looking at the same thing.

Speaker: According to the suit, the Missouri based Nossany Investments says Lisa Marie borrowed 3. 8 million before her death, putting up her father's home as collateral And never repaid the loan. Now the firm is attempting to sell Graceland this Thursday. But here's the thing. Nasani investments and private lending did not seem to exist. There was no company website, no social media channels. And a company representative never even showed up to court.

Brandy: And so every reporter was also like, who is behind this company?

Speaker: Elvis Presley's granddaughter is suing to stop a foreclosure sale of Graceland this week.

Brandy: So all of the networks and all of the newspapers were all sort of looking for the same story and trying to find out who this was. And every single story was just like, We don't know.

Speaker: This is really strange. And then that was the end of the first news cycle. The judge stopped the mansion from going into auction. Crisis averted. Unraveling the Nigerian Scam Emails

Brandy: And then it went into a second news cycle

Speaker: A self proclaimed scammer is reportedly admitting to the scheme to force a foreclosure on Graceland, Elvis Presley's iconic home.

Brandy: when whoever was behind the scam to foreclose on Graceland started emailing back the reporters who were trying to get in touch with them.

Speaker: And they said, we are Nigerian scammers and we have a big scam and a scheme and ha ha ha. In an email to the New York Times, a man claiming to be the leader of a Nigerian crime ring said, I am the one who creates trouble. We figure out how to steal. That's what we do. In an email to CNN, the scammer wrote, I didn't win this one. I stole many identities and received monies. We don't win all. Unquote. Then he wrote a local Memphis newspaper, the Commercial Appeal. To all the press, I am the Yahoo ringleader of Nigeria. The Presley is all made up and a hoax. They spelled Presley wrong, by the way. We sit and laugh at you idiots and watch you make fools of yourself, unquote.

Brandy: And it was like, Some organizations did a story based on that saying like a Nigerian scammer raises their hand and says, it was me. And that was the whole story. But like, A very cursory glance at the email that you got, it was clearly like, this is obviously bogus. This isn't real.

Speaker: and the one that we got actually was, Um, in Spanish. they sent us this, like, I am a Nigerian scammer in Spanish. So we clearly knew it was a fake and we didn't do that story. But you know how it goes. The 24 hour news cycle came and went. And it seemed like all the news outlets moved on from this story. But not Brandy:

Investigative Breakthrough: Finding Caroline Nassani

Brandy: I'm really good at finding people online. And my editor was like, could you just look at this thing? And, um, at first I was kind of annoyed because I'm working on something else.

Speaker: And I was like, you know, every reporter in the country is looking at this. I'm not going to see anything. And literally it took me five minutes to find like the first clue. And then, as you know, that just like dives you down a rabbit hole that became the best.

Javier: What was the first clue? I mean, you, you saw the email and you're like, wait a minute, something's not right here. But most people on a 24 hour, most reporters on a 24 hour news cycle would just be like, Oh, Nigerian scam. Move on to the next story. Right? Like, what was it that intrigued you? And what was that first clue?

Brandy: in house our reporters and our research department and lots of other folks were doing real reporting and they looked at all the business records. They looked up all of these addresses. They looked up all of these phone numbers used all of the emails. They tried to find any, any uh, Record of any of that and kept coming up empty every single time.

Speaker: So it's like, it's not their fault. And it, because I saw they had done such a thorough job, I was like, I'm never going to find anything. And literally all I did was I put the name Missani, N A U S S A N Y, which is not a name that anyone has in the United States or elsewhere. I think they just, it's a made up name. Name somehow. And so I just put it into Google. but what I did was that I just did a restrictor a time restrictor, so I didn't want anything from the last five days, right? So I just put in before March, whatever. And it got one hit, and it was a Facebook profile for a carloin Nisani, and a Carolyn Williams had been on these documents for Nisani documents, so I was like, that looks good. Carolyn was misspelled, by the way. They spelled it Car loin. C A R L O I N, Nasani. This was a huge lead because now the investigation is leading Brandy five hours away from Memphis to Branson, Missouri. The Facebook profile for Carolyn left a bad review for a local nail salon on a Facebook group called Branson Buzz

Brandy: which is a public sort of, um, rumor page People like talk about their last wallets and dogs and how they don't like each other. And like, it's just a rumor mill on Facebook. So that came up and there was this woman, Caroline Nassani, who was, um, shit talking, excuse me, if I can say that, but, um, shit talking, um, this local nail salon.

Speaker: And so immediately it's like, there's something like, this is going to be weird. And it was.

Javier: So now you got this unique name, you Google hacked it so that you could filter out all the, the tsunami of news that was happening at that moment, right? Because that name, Newsami is unique, but if everyone's talking about it at the same time, all you're going to get is like feedback, right? So now you narrowed it down to this bad review.

Speaker: And what do you do? Like, what's your next move? Like, what's your next step? Connecting the Dots: Nail Salon Harassment

Brandy: So then we were just trying to find out, well, why is this person mad at this nail salon? and so then we started doing our regular, you know, shoe leather reporting.

Speaker: Brandy and her team poured through the court records and found some court cases involving the nail salon Brandy: And through court records, we saw the story start to emerge of a former employee who had been harassing the salon owners, and the salon owners had tried to get an order of protection against this former employee, reached out to the former employee, who's a character in and of himself. He is from Belize, and, um, he is a recent, Immigrant to America and really funny and interesting

Javier: Is he Rashid? Rashid,

Brandy: Rashid. Yeah. So, so I talked to Rashid and I said, Hey, you know, this online account is, harassing this nail salon and you seem connected to this nail salon recently and maybe some harassment because they were saying in the court documents that this person was doing all of these fake reviews, which is what we were seeing online with this Caroline Nassani.

Speaker: the salon wasn't just getting fake reviews. They also started receiving texts from Carolyn, but this time, she was pretending to be a Missouri State Inspector. In these texts, Carolyn threatened to sue the nail salon on behalf of a former salon employee, Rashid Carbio. Carbot. Rashid Carbio. The salon owners then filed an order of protection against Rashid. the business complained of multiple emails, texts, and phone calls, posing as law enforcement, attorneys, even the Missouri Attorney General, the Secretary of State Investigator, and the U. S. Marshal. According to a police report, at one point, one of the salon owners was fooled into giving up her social security number over to a person posing as an attorney. Almost immediately, the salon owner started getting credit alerts informing her that someone was applying for loans under her name. the other salon owner was not spared. fake reviews claimed that government investigators accused her of embezzlement and fraud. Brandy asked Rashid if he was responsible for these harassing messages.

Brandy: and he said, no, no, no. got the wrong person I'm not involved with that. That's a woman named Lisa. And, Lisa ended up being our girl.

Speaker: Could Lisa be the one who tried to steal Graceland? We'll dig in after the break Rashid Carballo met Lisa recently after moving to Branson, Missouri from Belize. He was working at a local Starbucks and she would come in all the time. Eventually, they started talking and learned that Lisa inherited a fortune. And she was getting ready to open a marijuana dispensary business. Lisa was very supportive. I mean, she offered him advice, eventually a place to stay. And when he got that job at the nail salon and had a falling out with the salon owners, she stood by his side, even offering him legal help. But that's when things got weird Reporter Brandy Zdrazny is listening to all this and suddenly, the pieces start fitting together.

Javier: wow. And, and so that's, and all that happened from behind your desk, right? Like you, you were just pulling court documents at this point, making phone calls.

Brandy: Yeah. We actually did go to Branson pretty early on and, we met with, you know, uh, Rashid's, uh, Newer employer. it's not that big of a place. So we sort of went to all of the places and eventually we did actually hook up with one of the owners of the nail salon as well.

Speaker: And she's on record with us saying like what that campaign was like, because you know, What ended up happening was that this Lisa woman had taken up Rashid's cause and helped him basically harass. she harassed the nail salon owners through Rashid. this is just her M.O. She uses fake online reviews and uses the internet, um, to further her, her lies and her scams. Lisa's Elaborate Scams and Fake Identities

Javier: And so at this point, do you only have a first name, Lisa? Or did you figure out her, her actual legal name at this

Brandy: No, we had her legal name.

Speaker: Lisa Janine Findlay. went by many aliases. Lisa Holden, Lisa Howell, Lisa Sullins.

Brandy: so once we had her name, I started finding her real life persona, not this Caroline Williams.

Speaker: But what was great is once I figured out who she was and we had her real Identity. there was one other thing on Carloin Nissanis, uh, page that she posted in Branson buzz. And Lisa had posted the same photo and that was photos of I believe her partner, dressed up as the Easter bunny selling Easter baskets on the streets of Branson. and so that's the, we were easily able to connect the two in that way. Brandy discovered that this grandmother from Missouri had a long rap sheet. Listen, stealing Graceland is probably not her first rodeo. A simple public record search shows that Lisa Finley was involved in several schemes throughout her life, including writing forged checks, fabricating loan documents. NBC News even claims that she was involved in a romance scam, Which I haven't been able to identify very

Brandy: she told, at various times she told various people that she was, an underwater welder,

Javier: That's right.

Brandy: she, she just picked the greatest things, God love her, um, that she had a cannabis business,

Javier: That's right. Yeah.

Brandy: She told people at the nail salon that she was a millionaire from an inheritance.

Speaker: She has also told numerous people, including judges that she had cancer. And she did not, according to the judge who ordered her medical history, she did not have cancer at the time. And I called one of the women who had sued her in courtBut I was leaving a message on the phone. It was ringing and ringing and I started to leave a message. I said, Hey, you know, I'm a reporter. I'm interested in this woman. Uh, Lisa Findley. And then you heard, you know, the woman picked up. It was a landline. The woman picked up and she was out of breath. And she said, Oh my God. Once I heard that name, what has she done now? And it's like, that was the feeling that this, this woman just had such, such a history.

Javier: And so what, what was that person able to tell you about Lisa?

Brandy: sorry, this conversation was so fun. I'm like still a little slack-jawed about it, but she said, Oh yes, I know Lisa well, she said, you know, 20 years ago, my son, Brought her home. and said, I met this woman at a hospital.

Speaker: And, um, she was working at the hospital, everybody assumed, and she is moving and she needs to borrow a truck. You guys just got a new truck can you loan her this truck? And Lisa was really good at this. Like everybody we talked to, she would befriend you in, An hour and suddenly you were doing favors for her people and like no one really understood why. She was this talker, She was so fun to be around, and so they loaned her the truck. she wrecked the truck or got the truck in an accident so they, they remained friends for a couple of weeks and Lisa has this, this story to tell, my father's dying, he's on his deathbed and he's going to leave me this camper business and I just need. A couple thousand dollars to get this, to pay the taxes, to get my inheritance. And then, you know, in the meantime, her father. Died, she said, it was very sad. And, this whole time, you know, this woman told me that Lisa was so fun, so funny to be around, always had stories, so much so that in a couple of weeks they became such good friends that Lisa would just come and walk in the front door, come and go as she pleased. And they all had a great time together, except for one thing, like something that was a little weird about her was apparently. Lisa was a life flight operator. So she said that she was a medic that would take, you know, jump in a helicopter when someone was sick and go and rescue them. So she had all these like pagers and she'd be like, Oh, I gotta go. And then she would like rush out at any time. So she was always on the go. She had these great stories about, you know, helicoptering people out in the middle of nowhere and saving lives. And so they gave her this money. And, surprise, surprise, she did not pay it back and then started, she just disappeared, started showing up less. So this woman that I spoke to said, well, I wasn't going to get rid of, you know, let go of my money. And so called the cops, got her own detective. She, started following Lisa, told this great story about how they caught Lisa stealing. donuts off the back of a truck, like just, it goes on and on and on. And eventually she gets, she ends up getting her money back. Oh, and of course Lisa's father was alive and well. and she talked to the dad who was like, she just keeps doing this. Um, so yeah, that was my first, my first story of, of Lisa's relentlessness in terms of scams, Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: she wrote bad checks all the time. The Kmart and Hotel Scams

Brandy: There was one point where she was working at, Kmart for a little while, and she, Had stolen checks from customers as they came in.

Speaker: And so she would write the checks, take the cash. and she was confronted by store security. She said, Oh yes, that's me. I'm sorry. I'll never do it again. Gave them a sob story. They still of course charged her. but my favorite thing that she did at that time was when she was at Kmart she went to a hotel and she had a boyfriend with her as she often did. they went to talk to the manager at this hotel and they said, Hey, she says, Hey, I am an employee of the parent company of Kmart and we want to hold our convention here. And so we would, um, like to see your rooms and learn about them. And so the, You know, gave him a little tour and she said, yes, it looks great. It's much better than the hovel across the street. Um, I will, I think I'll take a room and stay the night and feel it out here and have dinner. And so they did that. And then in the morning, um, it will surprise you, not that much to know that she did not pay her bill. Um, but she continued this scam, this idea that she was going to rent these 48 rooms, um, for this huge convention for a little while to see what she could get out of it. one of her probation officers described that she would move continuously and the way that she would move is that she would get on the internet and she would find a new boyfriend on an internet dating site. they would fall in love or like or whatever pretty immediately, and then she would move in with that person. But with every single one, she would scam them in some way. She would, you know, say, oh, can you lend me some money? And then she'd write them bad checks. Um, and, and so it got so bad that the probation officer in the report said that he had tried, or she had tried, sorry, that she was trying to counsel these boyfriends to stop, um, because, stop dating her because you're going to get defrauded, and it didn't work so well, apparently. But, uh, after, after. The probation officer did that. She was locked back up for a while. So those stopped for a bit at least. The Mystery of Kurt Nassan

Brandy: there's this one, this one hole or lie that I don't quite understand. And it's where the Nassani name first came up, but she told her son that she had married a man named Kurt Nassani.

Speaker: And that, that he was an oil pipeline magnate, and that he was giving her a lot of money. And, um, then they got divorced real quick, but they remain friends. And so she was getting this huge settlement. She's always about to get a huge settlement. You know, wealth is just within reach constantly for Lisa.

Javier: Now, were you able to figure out if Kurt Nasani is a real person? Like, where'd she get that name?

Brandy: This keeps me up at night. I don't know Okay. I do have one theory. and this could be wrong. My thought was that. It was a name like, it's so stupid and now that I, I'm like, I'm scared to say it, but my theory was that it was like, nah, Sunny, as in like, it was going to be a throwaway, like, right?

Javier: so funny. Well, A, you know, it's as good a theory as anything else, right?

Speaker: Brandy:

Javier: I think we will go with that, but yeah, it's such an unusual name and you did, you did research. And there's seems to be nobody named Nisani. I wonder if it's some sort of code, right? Like it means something to her.

Speaker: It's really wild to think that someone who started out writing bad checks and stealing social security numbers for small time scams could end up trying to steal one of the most famous houses in the world. But here's the thing, scamming isn't just her hustle. It runs in the family. .

Brandy: this now we're going off on a little tangent, but another part of this story has to do with Lisa's sister and it's her name is Linda. And.

Speaker: Brandy said that this Graceland scam seemed a little out of Lisa's league. But her older sister, Linda, now Linda, she's the real deal

Brandy: This Graceland crime seemed a lot more like Linda to me than it did Lisa, but we couldn't find any link beside the, you know,

Speaker: Linda's Sophisticated ScamsLinda's Sophisticated Scams

Javier: But it is interesting though, that. These two sisters are both con artists, right? Because the way you describe Linda is Linda's an even better con artist than, than Lisa.

Brandy: yeah, so Linda was definitely more sophisticated. I haven't seen evidence of, Of anything from her in several years. what her crimes were, and she spent a couple of years in federal prison for them was that she had a, a fake hedge fund,

Speaker: Yes, Linda, Lisa Finley's older sister, is a convicted Ponzi schemer. Linda and her husband, William Lavolzi, pulled off a 6. 1 million Ponzi scheme. Here's how it worked. They ran a company called RGM Enterprises out of Las Vegas. On paper, it looked like a legitimate hedge fund company, offering high returns to investors. Sounds great, right? Except, none of the money was actually invested. Instead, they used it to fund their lifestyle and pay off early investors. Classic Ponzi scheme. Linda splurged on 62, 000 vacations, 25, 000 tickets to the Grammys, all kinds of goodies.

Brandy: she had this great portfolio and she only, you know, did investing for very rich people and she really wined and dined her, her

Speaker: her victims too, to make them believe. This scam went on for years, from 2003 to 2007, and they managed to fool at least 6 victims. One poor investor almost lost 5 million dollars

Brandy: So one of the best ones was this new lottery winner. she scoped out this new lottery winner. She, um, became friends with him over their shared Wiccan interests, flew him and his wife out to Las Vegas where they did a little whining and dining. And then this lottery winner gave her 5 million to invest.

Speaker: I will say also that RGM Enterprises stood for "really great money". I only found that out through one of her victims, um, who, learned it after the fact, but like, Javier:

Brandy: it was just so silly.

Speaker: The Ponzi Scheme Unraveled

Brandy: but so she, she ran that and, and got caught because it wasn't that sophisticated a crime.

Speaker: Both Linda and her husband, William Livolsi, pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Linda was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and ordered to pay 6. restitution. Her husband, William, was sentenced to two years in prison for his involvement in the scheme and was hit with a 5 million restitution. Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Linda's Legal Troubles and Health Claims Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Linda and Lisa's Family Background

Javier: Did you get a sense of the relationship that Linda and Lisa had like were they close in age that they grew up together?

Brandy: They were a couple of years apart. so Lisa was the middle child. She had an older sister, which is Linda and then, um, a younger brother and, um, her parents. It was really interesting because her parents actually were bail bondsman. So they had this bail bonds business.

Speaker: Her dad was a bounty hunter for it and he was a correctional officer. So it's almost like she learned the opposite lesson. I don't know what happened there, but Linda did describe the experience growing up as dysfunctional and she alleged some abuse, but, um, it was kind of hard to, to know what's real with these people, right? Or know if that's true or not. Because I've also heard that her parents were very sweet people.

Javier: Yeah, and I mean who knows, But you say in your article that Lisa and Linda started living together again,

Brandy: Yeah.

Speaker: Linda's Post-Prison Life

Brandy: So when Linda got out of prison, she, came back to Oklahoma and she started working, At this, uh, like a condo that rented out for Airbnb and she, worked there, but she was not doing a great job. the people who work there now tell me she, would sleep all day and stay up a lot at night.

Speaker: What I hear of Linda's activities now is that she still stays up all night and sleeps all day and that she's always, always on her laptop. I don't know what that means. I don't know what she's doing. I don't see an internet history for her. maybe she's watching Netflix. I don't know, but that's, that's her life now.

Javier: baby reindeer, possibly. Yeah.

Brandy: It's very like that. The online reviews are very reminiscent for me and baby reindeer.

Javier: So, wow, we got off on a tangent. I'm trying to figure out where we left off.

Speaker: The Investigation Begins Let's get back to Lisa, the sister who tried to steal Graceland Javier:

Brandy: so everyone is talking to us about how she is this sort of career criminal and scam artist. We've narrowed it down to her and then I am sent to Branson to go knock at her door we did this pretty quicklyFrom start to finish in a couple of weeks.

Speaker: We had done

Javier: It's a lot of work.

Brandy: it was and but we felt like we had to really move because my thought was like The cops are gonna get her, like, the feds are gonna be, this was such a huge story that, like, I, I just think that they're gonna be moving on this,

Javier: That's such a funny feeling because in your mind, you're competing against every other network, every other reporter, right? And, and law enforcement, they're all like on the same paper trail that you are in, but, but come to find out you're, you're the only one going down this rabbit hole.

Brandy: yeah, we were only, competing with ourselves, I guess, but yeah, when I, no one had called our, the sources that we were talking to, no one else was talking to them, no one else had talked to them, um, yeah, it was really, really weird, really weird.

Javier: so now you fly to Missouri, to Benson, right? Missouri. And what? You know, you land. Where do you go? What's your first plan of attack?

Brandy: So I go to my hotel and then I ate at a place called the Outback Steakhouse. Not, not that Outback

Javier: the, not the blooming onions.

Brandy: No, because I went in hoping to get just that. And then, um, but it was, it literally says like not that Outback and it's, it's great. It's a, it's a restaurant. I had a delicious meal. So I go and I ate dinner and then I went, um, I woke up really early in the morning and

Speaker: I wanted to go to every place that she had gone. So I, I, stuff that I knew wouldn't work out also. Like I went to the P. O. boxes that she used to see if anybody would tell me where they were, or maybe I would see her, I don't know, like opening one up, you never know what you'll get. Confronting Linda

Brandy: but eventually I knocked on her door sitting outside was one of the vehicles that I'd seen in a fake review. So she had, um, posted a review about a vehicle that was in her driveway, so that was helpful. And, then I knocked on her door and just told her everything. because we were about to publish and I, you know, we wanted to give her a chance to comment and I said, you know, hi, I'm here because I'm an NBC News reporter and I'm here because we have discovered all of these things and I showed her all of the links between her and Nassani Investments and I think we had about seven.

Speaker: physical links between her and these things, including the Easter Bunny photos and, the car and phone numbers and fax numbers and, all of these details and, then she just said, Well, I didn't do any of that. And I said again, I know that you did that. Like, that's not my question. My question is, do you, um, want to comment on why or tell me any more information about whatever that you're a part of? Are you working alone? Is there other story that we should hear? And she just said, I have no earthly idea what you're talking about. And she says, she said, my identity was stolen. And I said, Oh, that's terrible. You know, did you make a report with police? And she said, yes, but then we checked with the police and there had been no report. And then she said, well, I'm definitely right. Making a report about this. And then I said, great, I'll go with you to the police station. Um, or, you know, let me know when you do. That never came to fruition. And, um, so I left and within 30 minutes of me leaving the Facebook page for Carline Nassani had been taken down. And, slowly throughout the day, other accounts linked to her were also taken down. So that was kind of like, gotcha. The Aftermath and Legal Maneuvers Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: so she sent me a cease and desist letter and asked me to sign it was just and part of it was saying that I would stop contacting her

Javier: And it wasn't from her attorney, it was just her. She just

Brandy: was just Yeah, God

Javier: No certified copy or anything like that.

Brandy: No, I didn't sign it, but we did post it,

Javier: Yeah, I see it. did you happen to see Linda while you were there? Like, did she come to the door?

Brandy: No, I didn't. I didn't get to see Linda I'm sort of bummed about it. Um, It's kind of a weird thing because you're on private property. So, you know, you can go and knock and talk as long as you're invited I was hoping she would like invite me in and chat about all this I was honestly hoping that you know, she said Oh, God, that's crazy.

Speaker: You know, here, come in and let's talk about this. Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy:

Javier: what were you thinking was going to happen from a prosecution standpoint?

Brandy: I thought that there would be a search warrant And I was like, are we racing feds? but we were not. And, and I still think that that might happen. I just thought she would run

Javier: well, you know how like FBI works, they're just such a black box and they're slow and then they show up out of nowhere and you know, they bring the hammer down. So who knows?

Brandy: This wasn't a high profile though, so I, I, I really do feel like

Speaker: Reflections on the Graceland Scam

Javier: Well, let's talk about that for a second, because I think that the reason why we're talking about it is because of Graceland, right? But the underlining scam here, which is forging documents, To create the illusion that somebody is in debt to you and then you could actually like take their property away from them that could happen to anyone right like People could weaponize the system to bring other people down, right?

Brandy: Well, someone told me a story about, about Lisa. They claimed that she had, um, someone's property before. and so like my thought was, I don't know if that claim is, is correct. But the thought was that like. It is kind of easy to do this. It's just so bold to try to do it with the most famous residents, the most beloved residents in all of America.

Speaker: Like there's something so brazen about that, that of course it's going to get, lots of attention. And I was almost heartened because I think a lot of the articles that I read about it did sort of say that, that actually this is not an uncommon thing, not an uncommon scam. And people who die with not a lot of family around and that have property to leave, sometimes this, their stuff just gets scooped up by scammers and it is kind of easy to do. Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: they could have gotten away with it It's true. This type of fraud is easy to do if you know what you're doing. it seems sophisticated, but it's really just a few documents that are filed. Matthew Cox, a former mortgage broker turned conman, was caught falsifying documents to make it look like he owned real properties. He then took out multiple fraudulent mortgages on them, inflating their value five or six times their worth. The scheme made him millions. Matthew Cox explained to a local Fox news station, how it works this isn't that uncommon. Typically it's done with, uh, it's, it's done to your, your neighbors and it just never makes the news. That's that's a problem. We're only hearing about it because it is Graceland Get this, Graceland isn't the first celebrity home To fall into a scammer's crosshairs. let me give you a few examples. Take the estate of Jimi Hendrix. after the legendary guitarist died in 1970, people came out of the woodwork with bogus claims saying they were old money. then there was Prince When he passed away in 2016, his estate faced a flood of shady creditor claims. People and businesses claim that Prince owed them money. Michael Jackson's estate, same story after his death in 2009. it was hit with inflated and flat out fraudulent claims. And get this, just this year, scammers tried to file a fake deed for the Spelling Manor, the 123 room mega mansion in Los Angeles, valued at, get this, 137. 5 million dollars. So yeah, Graceland is not alone. Scammers have been targeting celebrity estates for years, Proving that no one is safe from these schemes. Matthew Cox says that you don't have to be a celebrity to become a target. In fact, this type of fraud can happen to anyone who owns a property. It's not hard to find the documents that you have to file. Anybody could type what type it up using word. It's not difficult to get a notary stamp. You could You could sit down tonight and order five or ten of them on the Internet. Nobody's checking. They'd show up at your house tomorrow. The next day, you notarize those documents. You file the documents in public records, and then you wait a little bit and you could, uh, get an attorney to start the foreclosure process, or you could even transfer title to someone's house. And it's very easy. You don't even have to go downtown. I, when I did these types of things. You would actually have to physically go down to public records. Now you can, you can sit in a Starbucks or, you know, any coffee, any coffee shop with Wi Fi and your laptop and pull this off in about 20 minutes. 20 minutes. But, trying to get your property back in court can take months, even years. So, how did investigators stop the sale of Graceland just hours before being auctioned? Somebody said, Are you Kimberly Philbrick? And I go, What is this about? Kimberly Filbrick has been notarizing car tags and titles for 30 years. And they go, Well, your notary was used in a document where somebody put it up for collateral. I said, was it about a car? You would think that if Lisa Marie Presley walked into her office asking to put Graceland down as collateral for a loan, that she would remember that Kimberly Filbrick told a BC news that she was floored when investigators from the Presley estate rang her phone. Do you know Lisa Marie Presley? It's what they asked me and I thought it was funny and I go the Lisa Marie Presley and they go, yeah. They showed her the stamp on the deed of trust. It had her name and her signature That it looks absolutely nothing like my signature. In an a b, C interview, Kimberly told reporters that she too was duped You feel like you were a victim in this? Absolutely, I was. Do you want someone held accountable for it? Yes, I do. Because I want to know the answer. How did you get my name? Kimberly doesn't know why Lisa Finley picked her of all people. After all, Kimberly lives 800 miles away in Florida and Lisa was in Missouri. do you feel in some ways like you saved Graceland? If they couldn't get in touch with me, what would have happened? Or if I didn't say that I didn't notarize it? What would they have done with the foreclosure gone through? I don't know. After Lisa Marie passed away, Elvis granddaughter Riley Keough became the sole trustee of the estate. Like I said, at the 11th hour, a judge issued a temporary injunction stopping the sale of Graceland. The whole court case lasted 8 minutes, but you have to ask yourself. What was Lisa Finley's endgame? Did she really think she was gonna get away with this brazen stunt? Conclusion and Next Steps

Brandy: I don't think this story is over. once something else happens, whatever that thing is, I, I desperately want an answer to what were you thinking?

Speaker: Javier: Brandy: Javier: Brandy: Javier: But for months nothing happened.

Brandy: I wanted to keep up with what was happening when I left Branson and things seem to just stopped.

Speaker: I don't know. I don't know what's going to happen. Where is the FBI? Like where, I don't know. I don't know I recorded my interview with Brandy earlier this summer, and for a while it was nothing but crickets. I mean, it really did seem like Lisa Finley had gotten away with it. The media had lost interest, and it looked like this case had just slipped under the prosecutor's radar. and happening right now in the W. R. E. L. Live center. We're following some breaking news. A Missouri woman was arrested today on federal charges in connection to extort Elvis Presley's family out of millions of dollars and steal ownership interests of Graceland. ButOn August 16, 2024, Finley was indicted on two charges, mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. Originally, Lisa Finley pleaded not guilty, signaling that she wants to take this thing to trial. If convicted, Finley faces a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft, and a maximum 20 years in prison for mail fraud. But, lots can happen between now and the court date. Lisa can work a deal with the prosecutors for a lesser charge. We'll just have to wait and see. By the way, if this episode got you wondering how to protect your home from title fraud, don't worry. It's easier than you think. start by checking to see if your local county recorder offers free alert services. That way if something changes, you get notified. Or consider signing up for a title monitoring service for Or consider signing up for a title monitoring service. I think they go for like 20 a month Maybe a couple hundred bucks a year. I'm not sure for that extra peace of mind And don't forget to review your title insurance to make sure you are covered It's really infuriating to think that it is that easy to steal somebody's home. If you've listened to my series on sovereign citizens, you'll know that they, if you listen to my series on sovereign citizens, you know that this is a common technique that they use to target their enemies. So yeah, this is the thing. All right, that's it for this episode of Pretend. Got lots of cool stuff on Patreon and Apple Podcasts. Some bonus episodes. A major story that I was working on fell through, But rest assured, I have multiple investigations going on at once. It's kind of nuts, actually. Not sure which one's going to be done first. But of course my Patreon and Apple Podcast supporters are always going to be the first ones to hear it. Remember, you can find me on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, at PretendPod. We even have a Facebook group now. You should look for that. And even a PretendPodcast subreddit. Someone created that. I have no idea who, but Anyways, there's lots of ways to interact. Again, find me, at PretendPod, on all your social feeds. I look forward to hearing from you guys. Take