LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — The estate of multimillionaire investor Tony Hsieh remains tied up in court nearly five years after the Zappos founder’s death, leaving the future of his numerous downtown Las Vegas properties uncertain.
Hsieh died in a house fire in Connecticut in 2020. Six months ago, someone came forward saying they found his will. As the court decides if the document is authentic, his estate and the future direction of his downtown properties hangs in the balance.
“Tony was a visionary. He just looked at things much differently,” said Paco Alvarez, who has lived downtown for 20 years and worked for Hsieh at Zappos for four years. Alvarez explained Hsieh bought more than 50 acres in Downtown Las Vegas, including many properties along East Fremont Street, as part of his vision to revive the area. Alvarez told FOX5 much of the momentum to redevelop died with Hsieh.
“It has never recovered, it just hasn’t,” Alvarez said. “I’m a tour guide… and I stopped doing tours down here because I could not bring people down here. It was too unsafe in broad daylight.”
The case has captured the attention of the legal world. Rochelle Schultz, an attorney with estate planning firm Weinstock Manion specializes in estate law. Schultz explained to FOX5, according to court documents, Hsieh’s will was found in the papers of an attorney who died and the beneficiaries who would stand to inherit much of his estate remain unclear.
“Those individuals are only identified by the last four digits of their Social Security number,” Schultz revealed.
The stakes are high. According to Schultz, with ownership of more than $50 million worth of Las Vegas properties to be decided.
“We don’t know who those properties are going to, who’s going to be in charge,” Schultz said.
Alvarez worries about the years it will likely take to settle Hsieh’s estate. He says properties like a row of historic motels on East Freemont Street may not survive.
“Vagrants are getting in, they’re burning them down,” Alvarez said. “It’s so frustrating when you have all this history that is a tourism magnet just sitting there and just dying.”
According to Schultz, the court is currently allowing the Hsieh family to investigate the authenticity of the will. There is a court order authorizing the disclosure of his electronic communications and digital assets to see if any connection to the attorney who purportedly had the will can be found.
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