Mr. Hsieh, identified for selling happiness within the office and a fun-loving strategy to creating income, died and not using a will on the age of 46. Within the final yr of his life, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, he struggled with alcohol and drug use and mental-health points, folks near him have stated. He surrounded himself with an entourage of individuals in his Park Metropolis, Utah, mansion, the place the partitions had been lined with hundreds of sticky notes detailing the whole lot from life mantras to monetary offers.
Now, the issues that contributed to his demise are being invoked in a court docket battle over his property. His household, who stand to inherit the property, and pals are arguing over who had Mr. Hsieh’s finest curiosity at coronary heart, and who was out to make use of him for his wealth and connections.
His property is valued at greater than $500 million. Some persons are claiming they’re owed hundreds of thousands—or tens of hundreds of thousands—of {dollars} for enterprise dealings with Mr. Hsieh, together with real-estate developments and employment contracts. Some have filed sticky notes as proof for his or her claims in court docket.
One in all his longtime pals,
Mimi Pham,
is looking for greater than $90 million, in line with court docket paperwork. Tony Lee, a monetary adviser to Mr. Hsieh, is looking for $7.5 million and calls Mr. Hsieh’s brother,
Andy Hsieh,
an enabler of his brother’s drug and alcohol use, in line with court docket information. The household says some associates, together with Ms. Pham and Mr. Lee, took monetary benefit of Mr. Hsieh whereas he was susceptible, court docket paperwork say. One other affiliate is looking for $30 million for his deal to be a “challenge supervisor.”
A lawyer for Ms. Pham declined to remark; a lawyer for Mr. Lee didn’t reply to a request for remark. Each have denied the household’s allegations in court docket filings. A consultant for the Hsieh household declined to touch upon any litigation.
It may take a number of years for Mr. Hsieh’s property to be settled, and it’s uncommon for high-wealth people to not have a monetary plan for after they die. The property dispute is enjoying out within the Eighth Judicial District Court docket of Nevada in Las Vegas, the place Mr. Hsieh had lived for years earlier than transferring to Park Metropolis. A choose earlier this yr appointed his father,
Richard Hsieh,
and one in all his two brothers, Andy, to handle the belongings whereas the property is being settled. The household has filed notices that a few of Mr. Hsieh’s real-estate holdings could possibly be offered off.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Hsieh’s household declined to remark. A Zappos spokeswoman declined to remark. The corporate isn’t concerned within the litigation.
Tony Hsieh and his longtime pal Mimi Pham attending a celebration in San Francisco in 2014. Ms. Pham is looking for greater than $90 million from his property.
Photograph:
Michael Kovac/Getty Pictures
Mr. Hsieh, identified for being beneficiant along with his money and time, grew to become rich at 24 when he offered his startup, LinkExchange, to
Microsoft Corp.
for $265 million within the early web days. The entrepreneur later invested within the startup on-line shoe retailer Zappos, when shopping for sneakers on-line appeared like a novelty, and took over as CEO. Zappos was later acquired by
Amazon.com Inc.
for $1.2 billion in 2009. He was a neighborhood hero to some within the Las Vegas space, the place he moved Zappos’s headquarters from San Francisco, bringing a tech firm to the on line casino city. He additionally invested in downtown Las Vegas with a imaginative and prescient to remodel the uncared for a part of town.
In Park Metropolis, Mr. Hsieh grew to become consumed by drug use, together with huffing nitrous oxide, and by delusional ideas, like believing he had an algorithm for world peace, in line with court docket information. As a leisure drug, nitrous oxide is usually inhaled by way of a dispenser for a short-lived euphoric excessive.
The entrepreneur died from accidents sustained in a shed hearth in New London, Conn., outdoors the house of a pal and former Zappos worker. He was alone, probably intoxicated, within the locked shed with candles, a propane heater and different flammables when the fireplace ignited, in line with native investigators who decided there was no felony involvement within the hearth and left open the chance it was attributable to “carelessness or an intentional act by Mr. Hsieh,” in line with a report of the investigation.
Because the probate and litigation processes go on, a clearer image of Mr. Hsieh’s belongings is coming into view. He had greater than $122 million in actual property in Nevada and Utah, in addition to greater than $400 million in a Morgan Stanley account, in line with court docket paperwork. A latest stock submitted to the court docket by Richard and Andy Hsieh pegged the property at $523 million, although a number of of Mr. Hsieh’s firms hadn’t been valued but. Earlier court docket filings have estimated his wealth at $840 million.
Ms. Pham has sued Richard and Andy Hsieh for breach of contract and contrasted her shut relationship with Mr. Hsieh with that of his to his household in court docket paperwork. Her attorneys stated that Tony Hsieh provided his brother Andy Hsieh a $1 million wage to maneuver to Park Metropolis, which is “not a sign of a familial bond.”
Via her firms, she and her boyfriend, Roberto Grande, are claiming they’re owed for involvement in Mr. Hsieh’s funding in a documentary-streaming service by the Los Angeles manufacturing firm XTR, together with future income. A consultant for XTR didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Mr. Lee, a former banker who organized a mortgage for Zappos that staved off chapter within the firm’s early years, has stated in his personal lawsuit that Andy Hsieh, whereas attempting to complement himself from his brother’s wealth, equipped him with alcohol and hundreds of canisters of nitrous oxide, in line with court docket paperwork in that case.
Mr. Hsieh’s household stated in court docket filings in response to Ms. Pham’s lawsuit that Ms. Pham, Mr. Grande and Mr. Lee “inspired Tony to pursue a sequence of impulsive, poorly deliberate and/or incoherent investments to remodel Park Metropolis right into a mecca for creatives to suppose, collaborate, and expertise,” and “profited from their insider standing and Tony’s vulnerability.” In addition they stated Mr. Hsieh’s daring concepts turned “delusional and really damaging” whereas he was utilizing medication.
Some high-profile figures are additionally being swept up within the dispute. Ms. Pham’s attorneys filed subpoenas addressed to actors
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
and
David Arquette.
The subpoenas search data associated to any funding by Mr. Hsieh in Hitrecord.org, Mr. Gordon-Levitt’s on-line inventive neighborhood.
They’re additionally requesting data concerning any funding Mr. Hsieh made within the “Bozo the Clown” documentary by Mr. Arquette. The subpoenas ask for paperwork that might present any considerations the 2 actors, each pals of Mr. Hsieh, had about his psychological well being. Representatives for Mr. Gordon-Levitt and Mr. Arquette didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Some high-profile figures, together with actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, are being swept up within the dispute over Tony Hsieh’s property.
Photograph:
David Paul Morris/Bloomberg Information
A few of Mr. Hsieh’s huge concepts that by no means got here to fruition have led to claims on his property.
Suzie Baleson,
who acted as Mr. Hsieh’s enterprise supervisor in Park Metropolis, filed a declare for greater than $8.7 million for consulting on a improvement of a “magic citadel” within the city. Mr. Hsieh envisioned changing a three-story constructing in downtown Park Metropolis into one flooring for music acts, one other flooring for co-working house and one other for magic and different performances, in line with an individual accustomed to the challenge.
Mark Evensvold
filed a declare for $30 million based mostly on an settlement signed on a sticky be aware about three months earlier than Mr. Hsieh’s loss of life, the place Mr. Hsieh agreed to pay him $450,000 a yr to maneuver to Park Metropolis to be a challenge supervisor and inventory bars, in line with a transcript of their assembly filed along with his declare. Mr. Hsieh had employed court docket reporters to comply with him round and report his interactions, The Wall Road Journal has reported.
Mr. Evensvold says Mr. Hsieh additionally agreed to provide him a 20% share in a Las Vegas restaurant enterprise, in line with the declare.
Mr. Evensvold filed a duplicate of the sticky be aware with what he stated had been the phrases of their deal.
“You’re both dwelling on this world, which has no time, no cash by way of what occurs right here,” Mr. Hsieh stated of their assembly, in line with the transcript. “…However for something that touches time or cash or sneakers is, like, not my world, so I don’t care.”
—Kirsten Grind contributed to this text.
Write to Katherine Sayre at katherine.sayre@wsj.com
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