Late Zappos CEO owned dozens of buildings in area
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Attorneys cannot find the person who fraudulently sold a downtown Las Vegas apartment building owned by the late Tony Hsieh for more than $1 million, court documents said.
Hsieh bought the building at South Ninth Street and Bridger Avenue in 2012, county records said. In March of this year, someone representing the LLC that owns the building, which is now in the hands of Hsieh’s estate, sold it for $1.2 million.
Hsieh died in a house fire in November 2020 in Connecticut. He was 46. His father, Richard Hsieh, is the administrator of his estate since his son did not leave a will. The future of Hsieh’s assets is playing out publicly in probate.
The fraudulent transaction filed with the county and provided in court documents shows the sale between “319 9th Steet, LLC” and “Galaxy Home Buyers LLC.” The warranty deed shows the sale from a person named Santiago Espinosa, but lawyers for the estate claim no such person has the authority to act on behalf of the company — and they do not know who Espinosa is.
The estate became aware of the sale in May, court documents said. Lawyers are not sure Espinosa is a real person. Attempts to contact a person with that name through social media have returned no contact information.
In addition, the lawyers for the estate cannot find the person who notarized the fraudulent sale, documents said.
“Multiple subpoena attempts have been conducted for [the notary] to obtain the notary pages for this signature; however, none of these attempts have been successful,” lawyers wrote in court documents.
Notes connected with court paperwork about serving court notices indicate a person attempted to serve the notary with papers. Two times there was no answer at the address listed. A third time, the person serving the paperwork talked to a neighbor who said the server had the wrong address.
In an attempt as early as late August, the server talked to a resident who said a person was kicked “of the apartment at the end of July.” The person was described as a white man with blond hair and a tattoo on his neck, documents said.
The Hsieh transaction may be part of a large scheme to defraud real estate buyers across the Las Vegas valley, sources told the 8 News Now Investigators.
Hsieh led retail giant Zappos for 20 years and retired as CEO in August 2020 — just months before his death. He played a pivotal role in the revitalization of Downtown Las Vegas. He owned dozens of buildings in the area, including the former Las Vegas City Hall, which became the Zappos headquarters. Hsieh was worth an estimated $840 million at the time of his death, documents filed in court as part of two lawsuits against his estate stated.
A hearing on the lawyer’s petition was scheduled for October.