Tony Hsieh’s will has surfaced. Now, his estate’s attorneys are investigating it
Attorneys for Tony Hsieh’s estate have taken steps to investigate the Las Vegas tech mogul’s will, after it recently surfaced more than four years after his death.
Law firm Goldsmith & Guymon served subpoenas to landlords who owned Las Vegas apartment complexes where witnesses who signed the will apparently lived, according to filings this month in Hsieh’s probate case in Clark County District Court.
Holland & Knight, a firm working with Goldsmith & Guymon in the case, also delivered notices of intent to serve subpoenas to the law firms that filed the will in 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 these lawyers — who represent Hsieh’s father — were looking for.
District Judge Gloria Sturman is scheduled to hold a hearing in the case on June 5.
Neither Goldsmith & Guymon nor Holland & Knight responded to a request for comment Monday.
Surprise twist
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, having sold Zappos to Amazon in a $1 billion-plus deal and assembled a sprawling real estate portfolio. Hsieh’s father has been managing his son’s estate, and the dad’s legal team has stated multiple times in court filings that the younger Hsieh died without a will.
But in a surprise, mystery-filled twist, law firms McDonald Carano and Greenberg Traurig teamed up to file 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.
A person named Kashif Singh wrote the letter describing the 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.
Holland & Knight this month delivered notices of intent to serve subpoenas to McDonald Carano and Greenberg Traurig, which represent named executors in the will, court records show.
Neither McDonald Carano nor Greenberg Traurig responded to a request for comment Monday.
Mystery man
All told, the will’s discovery and the document itself have proven to be a big headscratcher.
Hsieh had named Pir Muhammad an executor in the will and gave him “exclusive possession” of the original, in part to prevent anyone from destroying the document, the will indicates.
However, several people who knew Hsieh have said they never heard of Pir Muhammad. The Las Vegas Review-Journal also checked property records, court filings, business-entity registrations and other databanks but found nothing that linked the name to Southern Nevada or confirmed who he was.
Probate and estate-planning lawyers also have said that Hsieh’s will is confusing, clunky and features language and details they don’t normally see in such documents.
Southern Nevada attorney Elyse Tyrell, for one, figured that Hsieh wrote it himself, saying the will is convoluted, does not follow key estate-planning principles and could not have been drawn up by a lawyer.
The will was signed by several witnesses, three of whom had a Las Vegas address listed with their name and signature in the document.
Goldsmith & Guymon served subpoenas to landlords who owned apartment buildings at those locations when and since the will was signed, according to court filings and property records.
The Review-Journal has been unable to locate or speak with the witnesses who signed the will.
Contact Eli Segall at esegall@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0342.
