Former billionaire, creditors reach deal
BILLINGS, Mont. — Former billionaire Tim Blixseth and his creditors reached a $3 million settlement to satisfy long-standing claims that the real estate developer illegally pocketed hundreds of millions of dollars from a Montana resort for the superrich, according to court documents filed late last week.
The agreement calls for an Oregon real estate developer to pay $3 million on Blixseth’s behalf to creditors for the Yellowstone Club. In exchange, the creditors will drop their legal claims against Blixseth that have resulted in more than $525 million in unsatisfied court judgments against him.
Blixseth and his third wife, Edra, founded the exclusive resort near Big Sky in the late 1990s. Its private ski hill and golf course in the mountains near Yellowstone National Park attracted a celebrity-studded membership that reportedly includes former Vice President Dan Quayle, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and entertainer Justin Timberlake.
The club spiraled into bankruptcy in 2008 following Tim and Edra Blixseth’s divorce. That launched a decadelong legal saga that pitted Blixseth against the club’s creditors, Montana tax authorities, the federal judiciary and banking giant Credit Suisse, which loaned the club $375 million that it was later unable to fully repay.
Most of the 2005 loan went to Blixseth. He used the money to bankroll a jetsetting lifestyle he said was part of his efforts to create an international luxury vacation club modeled after his Montana resort.
The Montana club emerged from bankruptcy in 2009 under a new owner.
Blixseth consistently denied wrongdoing despite a string of court rulings that he fraudulently transferred the loan to enrich himself. He’s previously said he lost much of his fortune on legal fees, battling in courts across the U.S. against those he blamed for his woes.
The club’s creditors, represented by the Yellowstone Club Liquidating Trust, suspected he had hidden assets. They spent years pursuing him in federal courts from Florida to California.
But the years of investigation yielded only a small fraction of the $286 million they once sought, despite the string of monetary judgments against Blixseth in various federal courts. Blixseth, 67, now believed to be living in Palm Desert, Calif., did not respond to a request for comment.