A one-time billionaire blamed for driving a posh Montana resort into bankruptcy will stay in jail while a judge tries to force him to reveal what happened to some of his fortune, a federal appeals court ruled.
Yellowstone Club founder Tim Blixseth has spent almost nine months in a county jail for civil contempt under orders from U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals late Monday rejected Blixseth’s latest effort to be freed under an emergency petition filed last month.
Haddon ordered Blixseth incarcerated in April until he reveals exactly what happened to $13.8 million from the 2011 sale of a luxury property in Mexico, which defied a prior court order.
The Yellowstone Club near Big Sky went bankrupt after Blixseth, a resident of Washington state, pocketed much of a $375 million Credit Suisse loan to the resort and later gave up control of the enterprise to his ex-wife during their 2008 divorce.
In recent months, he has contended that much of his money was squandered, largely on attorney fees during a seven-year legal battle against the club’s remaining creditors.
Those creditors have civil judgments against Blixseth for more than $250 million. They say he sought to conceal his money through complex real estate deals and transfers of wealth to relatives, all while maintaining a lavish lifestyle.
So far, the creditors have collected only about $140, said Kevin Barrett with the Bailey & Glasser law firm, which represents the creditors’ entity, the Yellowstone Club Liquidating Trust.
How much money Blixseth has left “is the multimillion-dollar question,” Barrett said.
He said the appeals court ruling leaves it up to Haddon on how to proceed, and it’s possible that Blixseth will have to testify for the first time since his incarceration.
However, Blixseth’s attorney said the ruling on his client’s petition opens the door to a more formal appeal. Attorney Philip Stillman has argued that keeping Blixseth in jail for so long turns the contempt finding into a criminal matter, which entitles him to a bail hearing.
“I would have preferred a ruling that said Haddon screwed up and reversed the (incarceration) order in its entirety,” Stillman said, adding, “I think Tim’s going to be out on bail fairly quickly.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
This guy should not get rich off declaring bankruptcy while the creditors get the shaft. If this guy diverted the loan money to his personal use he committed fraud. He should rot in jail until he shows where his stolen wealth is hidden. I use the word stolen because it really belongs to the creditors who dealt with him in good faith.
You mean the way the white house and congress steal tax payers money to pad their pockets and get rich while in office and then retire with full pay and benefits for doing nothing.
Yes just like that
Yeah, that about sums it up. There ought to be a way to change some of the laws up on the hill so that these guys and gals who get up there for a couple of terms, do absolutely nothing of any consequence and then leave don’t do it with a full case of payments and benefits that would make a horse choke. But, unfortunately, in order to make that happen would require going past all the folks doing exactly the same things, and they’ll all vote it down.
BRAVO, SOMEONE WHO HAS TOLD THE TRUTH, ABOUT THOSE LOUSEY POLITICIANS, AND THE WAY THEY ARE STEALING THE “SS FUND ” MONEY, AND GETTING PAID MORE THAN THE PEOPLE THAT ARE PAYING THEIR SALARY. THEY SHOULD BE CALLED STINKING CHEATS, AND MADE TO LIVE AS WE LIVE, BRAVO..
Try this for NE Elites alone, many stories alone
link his paper trail to others maybe
More can be done.
Follow the money & documents.
There’s a very good reason for the judge’s order–it is the practice of all major swindlers to cache their ill-gotten gains in accounts held by various relatives (usually) & sometimes anonymous (to the government) associates, who often refuse to save their nearest & dearest swindler-benefactor when he/she gets into trouble by coughing up the cash for forefeiture to the government & repayment to the victims.
I think it is about time we voted on their pay and bennies for them instead of them voting for themselves. Who would not vote FOR a pay raise for themselves. And the common poor tax payer pays for their wealth. Nearly I/3rd were missing for the vote on iran.
Give us the names of who thought it was more important to be somewhere else. Also the names of the ones who wanted to GIVE to iran. Let the people sort this out and vote out the rotten apples. I sure hope trump gives them something to think about, like “YOUR FIRED!” I AM VOTING AGAINST THE ABSENT ONES AND THE ONES WHO VOTED FOR IRAN.
Pray Trump is for real!