MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A Missouri woman is scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday for scheming to defraud Elvis Presley’s family by trying to auction off his Graceland home and property before a judge halted the brazen foreclosure sale.
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U.S. District Judge John Fowlkes will sentence Lisa Jeanine Findley in federal court in Memphis. Findley pleaded guilty in February to a charge of mail fraud related to the scheme. She also had been indicted on a charge of aggravated identity theft, but that charge was dropped as part of a plea agreement.
Findley, of Kimberling City, falsely claimed Presley’s daughter borrowed $3.8 million from a bogus private lender and had pledged Graceland as collateral for the loan before her death in January 2023, prosecutors said when Findley was charged in August 2024. She then threatened to sell Graceland to the highest bidder if Presley’s family didn’t pay a $2.85 million settlement, according to authorities.
Findley posed 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, prosecutors said. A judge stopped the sale after Presley’s granddaughter sued.
Experts were baffled by the attempt to sell off one of the most storied pieces of real estate in the country using names, emails and documents that were quickly suspected to be phony.
Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. A large Presley-themed entertainment complex across the street from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises. Presley died in August 1977 at the age of 42.
The public notice for the foreclosure sale of the 13-acre estate said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owed $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan. Actor Riley Keough, Presley’s granddaughter, inherited the trust and ownership of the home after the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley.
Keough filed a lawsuit claiming fraud, and a judge halted the proposed auction with an injunction. Naussany Investments and Private Lending — the bogus lender authorities say Findley created — said Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the loan, according to the foreclosure sale notice. Keough’s lawsuit alleged that Naussany presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023 and that Lisa Marie Presley never borrowed money from Naussany.
Kimberly Philbrick, the notary whose name is listed on Naussany’s documents, indicated she never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any documents for her, according to the estate’s lawsuit. The judge said the notary’s affidavit brings into question the authenticity of the signature.
In halting the foreclosure sale, the judge said Elvis Presley’s estate could be successful in arguing that a company’s attempt to auction Graceland was fraudulent.
A statement emailed to The Associated Press after the judge stopped the sale said Naussany would not proceed with the sale because a key document in the case and the loan were recorded and obtained in a different state, meaning “legal action would have to be filed in multiple states.” The statement, sent from an email address for Naussany listed in court documents, did not specify the other state.
After the scheme fell apart, Findley tried to make it look like the person responsible was a Nigerian identity thief, prosecutors said. An email sent May 25, 2024, to the AP from the same email as the earlier statement said in Spanish that the foreclosure sale attempt was made by a Nigerian fraud ring that targets old and dead people in the U.S. and uses the internet to steal money.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — After gorging all summer on sockeye salmon, the portliest brown bears on the Alaska Peninsula will battle it out to see who will be named the fattest of them all in the wildly popular online voting contest called Fat Bear Week.
Those casting votes online starting Tuesday will choose between 11 mammoth brown bears and the winner of last week’s competition for cubs, named “128 Junior.” She’s a cub of “Grazer,” the two-time defending Fat Bear Week champion at Katmai National Park and Preserve who is looking for a third title.
The contest, which began in 2014, is meant to showcase the resiliency of the brown bears, who pack on the pounds each fall to survive the harsh winter, mostly by gobbling salmon on the Brooks River in the remote preserve about 300 miles southwest of Anchorage by plane. The public can watch the bears on explore.org’s livestream cameras before deciding on their favorite creature.
How to vote for Fat Bear Week
The 12 contestants announced Monday will face off in a single-elimination, bracket-style tournament. All voting is done online at www.fatbearweek.org, with the winner declared Sept. 30.
The first round features eight bears squaring off in four separate contests. The four winners advance to the second round, where they face four bears that received first-round byes.
There are about 2,200 brown bears within Katmai, a 6,562-square-mile park on the Alaska Peninsula, which extends from the state’s southwest corner toward the Aleutian Islands. To be featured in the contest, the bears must frequent the area of the main Brooks Camp.
This image provided by the National Park Service shows bear 602 at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, on July 12, 2025. (T Carmack/National Park Service via AP)
This image provided by the National Park Service shows bear 901 at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, on Sept. 12, 2025. (E Johnston/National Park Service via AP)
This image provided by the National Park Service shows bear 609 at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, Sept. 12, 2025. (K Troutman/National Park Service via AP)
This image provided by the National Park Service shows bear 909 at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, on Sept. 1, 2025. (A Monaco/National Park Service via AP)
This image provided by the National Park Service shows bear 32 at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, on July 14, 2025. (C Loberg/National Park Service via AP)
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This image provided by the National Park Service shows bear 602 at the Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska, on July 12, 2025. (T Carmack/National Park Service via AP)
The contestants include a number of colorful characters, from a bear nicknamed “Flotato” for a stomping dance it does, to one that will place its paw over its heart like she is pledging allegiance to the flag while waiting for fish to arrive.
Two of the contestants were once dominate males now adjusting to new realities. One was once at the top of the bear hierarchy but now is the old man of the river. The other is adapting to life with a broken jaw that will never heal properly.
The brown bears at Katmai are among the largest in the world. Mike Fitz, a naturalist for explore.org who started the Fat Bear Contest at Katmai when he was a ranger there, said that the only bears that are bigger are on nearby Kodiak Island.
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A male bear at Katmai weighs about 700 to 900 pounds mid-summer and can bloat to over a 1,000 pounds by September or October, thanks to successful foraging. But even a 1,400-pound male isn’t unusual.
Female bears are about half to two-thirds the size of adult males.
But the contest isn’t always just about how big the bear is, and the past two years prove that point with “Grazer” defeating “Chunk,” one of the biggest bears on Brooks River.
Voters could consider the challenges some contestants have had to overcome, such as female bears who protect their young and produce milk for the cubs while also fattening up for winter themselves.
Abundant salmon equals fat bears
Even though factors other than girth can be considered when voting, this might be the year when weight does play a role.
Brooks Falls is famous for brown bears snagging salmon out of the air as the fish try to jump upstream to get to their spawning ground.
That didn’t happen much this year, as an exceptional salmon run reduced the need for bears to compete for fishing spots at the falls.
“We are kind of expecting really to have some of the fattest bears we’ve ever seen in the event,” Fitz said. In fact, officials refer to one contestant as “cruise ship” because of its sheer plumpness.
The Minnesota Department of Health is encouraging COVID-19 vaccination for all people ages 6 months and older, endorsing recommendations from national medical associations rather than the federal government.
The three medical associations — the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Academy of Family Physicians and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists — recommend that everyone 6 months or older receive the updated 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine “without additional barriers.”
Additionally, the groups strongly recommend vaccination for those under 2, those who are 65 or older, those who are pregnant and people of any age with high-risk conditions.
“Vaccines are one of the greatest public health achievements in modern medicine and help protect people of all ages,” said Dr. Ruth Lynfield, MDH’s medical director and state epidemiologist. “We encourage people to talk to their health care provider about all of the vaccines that are recommended for them, especially flu, RSV and COVID-19 vaccines, right now as we enter the respiratory disease season.”
The state health department’s endorsement Monday of medical associations’ vaccine recommendations is a change from previous years. Historically, the department would endorse the federal government’s guidance, MDH said in its announcement.
“This is a unique moment where vaccine information from federal health leaders leaves important information gaps for Minnesotans,” said Dr. Brooke Cunningham, Minnesota’s health commissioner. “These independent medical associations have all looked at the science and concluded that COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective and important for people across the lifespan.”
Last week, a key committee within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended COVID-19 vaccination based on “individual decision-making.”
In August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for all adults age 65 and older, but approved it for people between the ages of 5 and 64 “with at least one underlying condition that puts them at high risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19.”
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was a longtime leader of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccination nonprofit.
The MDH’s endorsement follows Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s Sept. 8 executive order that directed the state agency to safeguard access to the COVID-19 vaccine.
In its Sept. 22 announcement, MDH said it has issued a standing order that gives pharmacists broad permission to immunize people who desire the COVID-19 vaccine. It also sets up conversations between MDH, the Minnesota Department of Commerce and health insurers to “ensure ongoing coverage.”
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a U.N. body, have said Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip amounts to genocide, deepening Israel’s isolation and risking untold damage to the country’s standing even among allies.
The accusation is vehemently denied by Israel, which was established in part as a refuge for Jews after the Holocaust. Others have rejected it or said only a court can make that determination.
Even so, global outrage over Israel’s wartime conduct has mounted in recent months, as images of starving children emerged, adding to the humanitarian catastrophe of a 23-month war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and laid waste to much of Gaza.
But the genocide accusation goes further, raising the question of whether a state forged in the aftermath of the crime is now committing it.
Israeli leaders brand the argument as veiled antisemitism, saying the country abides by international law and urges Gaza’s civilians to evacuate ahead of major military operations. They say Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war was itself a genocidal act.
In that attack, Hamas-led fighters killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251. Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, around 20 of whom Israel believes are alive.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 65,000 Palestinians have been killed. The ministry — part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals — doesn’t say how many were civilians or combatants, but says women and children make up around half.
FILE – Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
FILE – Seven-month-old Salem Awad, suffering from severe malnutrition, lies on a mattress in his family’s tent in Gaza City, July 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
FILE – Palestinians run for cover during an Israeli airstrike on a high-rise building in Gaza City, Sept. 5, 2025, after the Israeli army issued a warning. (AP Photo/Yousef Al Zanoun, File)
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FILE – Palestinians struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
Genocide was codified in a 1948 convention drawn up after the horrors of the Holocaust that defines it as acts “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
According to the convention, genocidal acts include: killing; causing serious bodily or mental harm; and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction in whole or in part.
Experts and rights groups increasingly use the genocide label
In a report last week, a team of independent experts commissioned by the U.N. Human Rights Council concluded the war has become an attempt by Israel to destroy the Palestinian population in Gaza and constitutes genocide.
The group, which doesn’t speak for the U.N., said its determination was based on a pattern of behavior, including Israel’s “total siege” of Gaza, killing or wounding vast numbers of Palestinians, and the destruction of health and educational facilities. Israel says Hamas uses such facilities for military purposes. It lifted a complete 2 1/2 month blockade in May.
Many of the world’s leading experts on genocide have reached the same conclusion, with at least two dozen using the term publicly in the past year. Among them is Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University.
Early in the war, Bartov, who grew up in Israel and served in its military, argued Israel’s actions didn’t amount to genocide.
He changed his mind when Israel took over the city of Rafah, driving out most of its population. He now considers Israel’s actions “a genocidal operation.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called Israel’s conduct genocide this month. “This is not self-defense, it’s not even an attack — it’s the extermination of a defenseless people,” he said.
Two Israeli rights groups have also said it’s genocide. While the groups are respected internationally, their views are not representative of the vast majority of Israelis.
In December, Amnesty International used the term, citing similar findings as the U.N.-commissioned experts. “Looking at the broader picture of Israel’s military campaign and the cumulative impact of its policies and acts, genocidal intent is the only reasonable conclusion,” it said.
Others do not see genocide — or say it’s for a court to decide
Israel — where the Holocaust plays a critical role in national identity — casts such allegations as an assault on its very legitimacy. It says Hamas — which doesn’t accept Israel’s right to exist — is prolonging the war by not surrendering and releasing the hostages.
The Foreign Ministry dismissed the report by the U.N.-commissioned experts as “distorted and false.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Israel could have committed genocide “in one afternoon” if it wanted, implying it has acted with restraint. Experts say there’s no numerical threshold for the crime.
Responding to a question in August, U.S. President Donald Trump, whose country is Israel’s staunchest backer, said he didn’t think he’d seen evidence to support the accusation.
“Israel’s actions in Gaza do not constitute genocide — they are legitimate acts of self-defense against an organization that seeks Israel’s destruction,” it said in a statement.
Norman Goda, a professor of Holocaust studies at the University of Florida, sees the use of the word as part of “a long-standing effort to delegitimize Israel,” saying the accusations are “laced with antisemitic tropes.”
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and others say it’s not for politicians or scholars to make the determination.
“We have always been clear that that is a decision for international courts,” then-British Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Sky News in May.
The European Union has made a similar argument, as has the Auschwitz memorial, dedicated to the victims at the largest Nazi concentration camp, most of them Jews.
The top U.N. court has been asked to rule
In late 2023, South Africa accused Israel of genocide at the U.N.’s top court, the International Court of Justice. About a dozen countries have joined the case. A final ruling could take years.
Lawyers for the country have already pointed to comments by Israeli leaders, including then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant saying Israel was “fighting human animals,” and Deputy Knesset Speaker Nissim Vaturi saying that Israelis shared the goal of “erasing the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth.”
Israeli leaders have downplayed the comments and argued they were taken out of context or directed at Hamas.
Even if it rules for South Africa, the court has no way to stop any genocide or punish perpetrators. Only the U.N. Security Council can do that — including through sanctions or authorizing military action. The U.S. has a long history of using its veto power there to block resolutions against Israel.
The International Criminal Court, meanwhile, has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, but neither faces genocide charges. They are accused of using starvation as a method of warfare, allegations they deny.
Israel faces increasing pressure
Israel faces increasing pressure, even from countries not calling its actions genocide. There have been calls for exclusion in the cultural and sports sectors, and protests in several European cities.
The European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, one of Israel’s staunchest backers, has called for partially suspending trade ties with the country. Germany and the U.K., both strong supporters of Israel, have suspended or restricted some military exports.
Goda, the academic who doesn’t think Israel is committing genocide, acknowledged the term has ramifications beyond the legal realm.
“’Genocide’ is a legal term, but it also carries a very heavy political and cultural weight,” he said. “A country committing genocide can never outrun the legacy of that crime.”
