Month: February 2025

A Missouri woman pleaded guilty on Tuesday to federal charges in connection with what prosecutors called a “brazen” attempt to fraudulently put Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate up for auction.

Lisa Jeanine Findley is accused of concocting a plot to defraud Presley’s family by trying to auction off his Graceland mansion and property, before a judge halted the mysterious foreclosure sale. Findley, 53, initially pleaded not guilty to the charges in the wake of her arrest last year. The trial had been scheduled to start in mid-April before Tuesday’s change of plea hearing.

Findley pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in U.S. District Court in Memphis, Tennessee; as part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss one count of aggravated identity theft that was previously filed against her. Prosecutors are recommending Findley receive a 57-month federal prison sentence; she is due back in court for sentencing on June 19.

Federal prosecutors said Findley, of Kimberling City, formed a “brazen scheme to try to extort a settlement from the Presley family.” As part of the scheme, prosecutors said Findley forged the signatures of Elvis Presley’s late daughter Lisa Marie and Florida notary Kimberly Philbrick in order to claim that Lisa Marie (before her death in January 2023) did not pay back a $3.8 million loan from a purported company called Naussany Investments that listed Graceland as collateral for the loan. Findley then threatened to sell Graceland to the highest bidder if Presley’s family didn’t pay a $2.85 million settlement, according to authorities, and posted as three different people allegedly involved with the fake lender, fabricated loan documents, and published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper announcing the auction of Graceland in May 2024.

A judge stopped the sale after Presley’s granddaughter, actress Riley Keough, filed a lawsuit claiming fraud, and a judge halted the proposed auction with an injunction. Keough inherited the trust and ownership of the home after the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley.

Elvis bought Graceland in 1957, and died there in 1977; the mansion was opened to the public five years later as a museum and tourist attraction. Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the 17,552-square-foot mansion each year, which was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991.  Elvis and other members of the Presley family, including Lisa Marie Presley and her son, Benjamin Keough, are buried on the mansion’s grounds.

Keough said in a 2024 interview with CBS News that she plans to continue running the property and keep it in the Presley family: “I think, like, my instinct with everything is always to do what my mother would have wanted. Which is to keep it a home. It was our family’s home.”

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered a new trial for Oklahoma death row inmate Richard Glossip, in light of allegations that the state withheld evidence related to its main witness. The ruling is a major win for Glossip, whose conviction in the 1997 murder-for-hire plot of Barry Van Treese has been called into question by the state attorney general after new evidence emerged in recent years. Glossip has been scheduled for execution nine times, and has eaten his ‘last meal’ three times – only to have his execution stayed.

In a 5-3 ruling authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the high court ruled in favor of Glossip and reversed a decision of the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals that upheld his conviction and death sentence.  Sotomayor was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Elena Kagan, Brett Kavanaugh and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Justice Neil Gorsuch did not take part in the court’s consideration of the case.

Glossip, now 62, was convicted of commissioning the murder of Barry Van Treese, owner of the Best Budget Inn motel in Oklahoma City where Glossip was a manager. All parties agree Van Treese was fatally beaten with a baseball bat by maintenance worker Justin Sneed, who eventually became the star witness for the prosecution. Sneed, who was a methamphetamine addict, confessed to the murder but avoided capital punishment by accepting a plea deal that involved testifying that Glossip paid him $10,000 to do it.  While Glossip admitted to helping Sneed cover up the murder after it occurred, he denied knowing Sneed planned to kill Van Treese or encouraging him to do so.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the majority: “We conclude that the prosecution violated its constitutional obligation to correct false testimony .. Had the prosecution corrected Sneed on the stand, his credibility plainly would have suffered. That correction would have revealed to the jury not just that Sneed was untrustworthy (as amicus points out, the jury already knew he repeatedly lied to the police), but also that Sneed was willing to lie to them under oath. Such a revelation would be significant in any case, and was especially so here where Sneed was already ‘nobody’s idea of a strong witness.’”

Don Knight, an attorney for Glossip, called the ruling “a victory for justice and fairness in our judicial system. We are thankful that a clear majority of the court supports long-standing precedent that prosecutors cannot hide critical evidence from defense lawyers and cannot stand by while their witnesses knowingly lie to the jury. Rich Glossip, who has maintained his innocence for 27 years, will now be given the chance to have the fair trial that he has always been denied.”

Gentner Drummond, Oklahoma’s attorney general, said his office will review the decision and “determine the most appropriate course of action to ensure justice is secured for all involved. Our justice system is greatly diminished when an individual is convicted without a fair trial, but today we can celebrate that a great injustice has been swept away. I am pleased the high court has validated my grave concerns with how this prosecution was handled, and I am thankful we now have a fresh opportunity to see that justice is done.”

Editorial credit: Aashish Kiphayet / Shutterstock.com

Apple announced on Monday that it will spend $500 billion over the next four years expanding facilities in the United States, including plans to build a new manufacturing factory, double its advanced manufacturing fund, and hire 20,000 people.

The tech giant said it will expand teams and facilities in Texas along with Michigan, California, Arizona, Nevada, Iowa, Oregon, North Carolina and Washington state. The announcement comes about a week after Cook met with President Donald Trump, who recently signed an executive order adding a 10% tariff on goods made by China on top of the 25% tariffs already in place (most of Apple’s products, including the popular iPhones, are manufactured in China).

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement: “We are bullish on the future of American innovation, and we’re proud to build on our long-standing U.S. investments with this $500 billion commitment to our country’s future. From doubling our Advanced Manufacturing Fund, to building advanced technology in Texas, we’re thrilled to expand our support for American manufacturing. And we’ll keep working with people and companies across this country to help write an extraordinary new chapter in the history of American innovation.”

Per AP News, Apple said it will also work to produce more content for Apple TV+ media streaming service in 20 states and make new hires in research and development along with spending.  Additionally, Cook noted the construction of a new factory in Houston (slated to open in 2026) that will produce servers to power Apple Intelligence, its suite of AI features.  Apple also confirmed Monday that an Arizona-based Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. facility, which began development under the Biden administration, had started producing chips for it there.

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President Donald Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday today to discuss topics including the war in Ukraine and trade issues. Earlier on Monday, Trump and Macron participated in a virtual meeting with fellow Group of Seven leaders to discuss the war.

Pres. Trump said: “France is America’s oldest ally, our cherished partnership has been a force for freedom, prosperity and peace from the very beginning. We’re now working on some very interesting developments, one in particular, as you know, the war between Russia and Ukraine.”  Trump said he was hopeful that Russia’s war in Ukraine was nearing an ‘endgame’ – on the third anniversary of the invasion. Trump said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine to keep the peace, and ‘had hope’ that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would soon come to the U.S. to sign a deal to give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals (in order to repay some of the $180 billion in American aid that’s been sent to Kyiv since the start of the war).

Macron said at a joint press conference with Trump following their meeting said their talks were productive, acknowledging that European nations must do more to bolster defense on the continent while also warning against capitulating to Russia: ″This peace must not mean a surrender of Ukraine. It must not mean a ceasefire without guarantees. This peace must allow for Ukrainian sovereignty.”  Trump said he believed Putin would accept European peacekeepers in Ukraine as part of a potential deal to end Russia’s war there. “Yeah, he will accept it. I have asked him that question. Look, if we do this deal, he’s not looking for more war.”