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In an electronic mail to The New York Occasions, he stated his ring preyed on the lifeless, the unsuspecting and the aged.
By Matt Stevens, New York Occasions Service
The author stated he was an identification thief — a ringleader on the darkish net, with a community of “worms” positioned all through the US.
In an electronic mail to The New York Occasions, he stated his ring preyed on the lifeless, the unsuspecting and the aged, particularly these from Florida and California, utilizing delivery certificates and different paperwork to find private info that aided of their schemes.
“We determine the right way to steal,” he stated. “That’s what we do.”
Lately, the author prompt, the group had turned its consideration to a significant goal: the property of Lisa Marie Presley, which final week confronted a risk that Graceland was about to be foreclosed on and offered by a mysterious firm, Naussany Investments & Non-public Lending LLC.
Media retailers usually obtain unsolicited emails from individuals who make outlandish claims. However this electronic mail arrived Friday in response to 1 despatched by the Occasions to an electronic mail deal with that Naussany listed in a authorized submitting despatched to a Tennessee court docket reviewing the foreclosures case.
In its electronic mail, the Occasions referred to the corporate’s declare that Presley had borrowed $3.8 million from it, utilizing Graceland as collateral. Within the responses, which got here from the e-mail deal with the Occasions had written to, the author described the foreclosures effort not as a legit try to gather on a debt, however as a rip-off.
“I had enjoyable figuring this one out and it didn’t succeed very nicely,” the e-mail author stated. He stated he was primarily based in Nigeria, and his electronic mail was written in Luganda, a Bantu language spoken in Uganda. However the submitting with the e-mail deal with was faxed from a toll-free quantity designed to serve North America; it was included in paperwork despatched to the Chancery Court docket in Shelby County, Tenn., the place the foreclosures case continues to be pending.
For the reason that information broke final week that an organization was making an attempt to promote Graceland — Elvis Presley’s former residence and a beloved vacationer attraction in Memphis — the Naussany firm has been a persistent puzzle. It’s tough to seek out any public data that show that the corporate exists. Cellphone numbers listed in court docket paperwork for the corporate usually are not in service. Addresses listed by the corporate are these of publish workplaces.
In September, eight months after Lisa Marie Presley’s death, Naussany Investments did file papers in probate court docket in California posting what it stated was Presley’s debt from 2018. It included a deed of belief, with a signature represented as Presley’s, that put ahead Graceland as collateral.
However Clint Anderson, the deputy administrator of the Shelby County Register of Deeds, stated his workplace doesn’t have on file a deed of belief or another paperwork from Naussany Investments “to legitimize this firm foreclosing on another property in Shelby County.”
In its September submitting, Naussany Investments stated it might conform to settle what it described because the debt for a reduced $2.85 million, which might be paid by the Presley household belief. However the belief, now led by Lisa Marie Presley’s daughter, actress Riley Keough, didn’t view the debt as legit.
Naussany Investments then took out an advert in The Business Enchantment of Memphis, giving discover that it deliberate to public sale Graceland in a foreclosures sale final week.
‘I’m the one who creates hassle.’
E mail from self-described identification thief
That led Keough to court docket final week, the place she fought the foreclosures, declaring in a authorized submitting that the mortgage was a fiction, the corporate “a false entity,” and the trouble to promote Graceland a fraud. The signatures of Presley and of a notary public on among the paperwork had been cast, attorneys for Keough stated.
At a listening to Wednesday, the judge blocked any immediate foreclosure on Graceland, saying that he wanted to assessment extra proof.
Nobody representing the Naussany firm attended the listening to. However shortly earlier than it started, the court docket acquired a submitting from an individual figuring out himself as a consultant of the corporate, Gregory E. Naussany. The submitting disputed Keough’s allegations, requested for time to current a protection and included an electronic mail deal with, [email protected], for additional contact.
By the tip of the day, although, Naussany Investments appeared to have given up. The Business Enchantment and The Related Press reported receiving emails from the corporate withdrawing its claims. Elvis Presley Enterprises, which operates Graceland as a vacationer attraction, instructed the Occasions {that a} lawyer for the household’s belief had additionally acquired an electronic mail from an individual purporting to be Gregory Naussany who stated Naussany Investments didn’t intend to maneuver ahead with a sale.
Court docket data, nonetheless, don’t but listing any movement by Naussany Investments to drop its declare.
A lawyer for Keough declined to remark Tuesday.
In a weird case with so many unanswered questions, it’s tough to find out how a lot weight to position on the current communications to the Occasions from the e-mail deal with related to Naussany Investments. Whereas the author stated he’s primarily based in Nigeria, it’s tough to pinpoint his location.
Naussany Investments has listed a number of electronic mail addresses in its court docket filings. Each emails acquired by the Occasions in current days got here from the deal with related to Gregory Naussany that was listed within the firm’s court docket submitting. In every, the author superior the view that he was a part of a classy identification fraud operation that had notably focused Individuals, who have been described as gullible.
When the Occasions sought additional clarification on particular points, the author replied, “You don’t have to grasp.” The author didn’t recommend any reasoning for being so forthcoming within the emails past taking credit score for what he described because the ring’s success in different instances.
“I’m the one who creates hassle,” the author stated to open his first electronic mail Friday.
On Thursday, the legal professional basic of Tennessee, Jonathan Skrmetti, stated his workplace would assessment Naussany Investments and examine its try to foreclose on what he stated was the state’s most “beloved” residence. A spokesperson for the workplace stated Tuesday that officers have been conscious of the correspondence despatched to the Occasions and that it might “proceed wanting into the matter.”
On Friday, even earlier than the current emails from the corporate had been despatched, Darrell Fortress, a Memphis lawyer who has labored continuously on foreclosures for greater than 40 years, referred to as the entire state of affairs “extraordinarily uncommon to the purpose of being unbelievable.”
Mark A. Sunderman, a real estate professor at the University of Memphis, was struck by the audacity of such an effort but additionally famous how susceptible the system could be.
“They picked the improper piece of property,” he stated. “If this had not been such a high-profile piece of property, they could have gotten away with it.”
This text initially appeared in The New York Times.
