Lawyers for Tony Hsieh estate taking new approach as they investigate will
After issuing several subpoenas, attorneys for tech mogul Tony Hsieh’s estate have taken another approach to investigating his recently surfaced will: Seek records and surveillance footage on how it was filed.
Las Vegas lawyer Dara Goldsmith filed court papers Wednesday seeking records from the clerk of the court on the initial filing of Hsieh’s will, which, in a surprising and bizarre turn of events, came more than four years after the former Zappos chief died.
District Judge Gloria Sturman signed an order Thursday granting the request.
Goldsmith is seeking any information on who filed the will or paid the filing fee; the money order that was used; the identities of court employees who processed the document; any envelopes the will may have been in; and any written correspondence that accompanied the will.
She also wants any video surveillance footage from the Regional Justice Center — including from the cashier station listed on the filing fee receipt — at the time the will was submitted to court.
Goldsmith noted that her client Richard Hsieh, who is managing his son’s estate through the younger Hsieh’s probate case, is conducting “due diligence” on the will and that they are seeking information from the court as part of their investigation into the document.
Goldsmith and attorney Vivian Thoreen, who also represents Hsieh’s father, did not respond to a request for comment.
Sturman is scheduled to hold a hearing in the probate case on June 5.
Questions swirl
Hsieh, the former CEO of online shoe seller Zappos and face of downtown Las Vegas’ economic revival, died on Nov. 27, 2020, at age 46 from injuries suffered in a Connecticut house fire.
He was unmarried and died with a massive fortune, and his dad’s legal team has stated multiple times in court filings that the younger Hsieh died without a will.
However, law firms that aren’t working for the family filed court papers last month with a copy of Hsieh’s seven-page last will and testament — dated March 13, 2015 — and a letter explaining how it was found.
The letter stated that the will was found in late February in the personal belongings of the late Pir Muhammad. According to the letter, Muhammad suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and was not aware that Hsieh had died.
The letter did not say when Muhammad died or where he lived, nor did it provide any details about his career or his association with Hsieh.
Several people who knew Hsieh have said they never heard of Pir Muhammad, and probate and estate-planning lawyers have said Hsieh’s will is confusing, clunky and features language and details they don’t normally see in such documents.
A person named Kashif Singh wrote the letter describing the will’s discovery, according to the court filing. No contact information or details on Singh, including his connection to Muhammad, were provided.
The Review-Journal has been unable to locate or speak with Singh.
Records hunt
Court records show that Singh filed the will in District Court before law firms McDonald Carano and Greenberg Traurig submitted it with the letter on April 17.
A clerk stamped the document submitted by Singh as “Received” on March 5, and then a clerk stamped it as “Filed” on April 2, court records show.
Goldsmith’s request to the court includes any information or notes concerning this “delay.”
Meanwhile, her law firm recently served subpoenas to landlords who owned Las Vegas apartment complexes where witnesses who signed the will apparently lived.
Thoreen’s firm, Holland & Knight, also recently served subpoenas to McDonald Carano and Greenberg Traurig, which represent named executors in the will, court records show.
The type of subpoenas involved typically seek documents or records. The court filings that disclosed the attorneys’ efforts did not include copies of their subpoenas or any descriptions of what the lawyers were looking for.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
