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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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Resort founder Blixseth sent back to jail by federal judge

The Columbian
Published:

HELENA, Mont. — A federal judge ordered the founder of a Montana mountain resort for the ultra-rich back to jail Monday, saying he failed to disclose what happened to $13.8 million from a Mexico resort sale.

Tim Blixseth of Washington went into custody of the U.S. Marshals Service after a court hearing in Helena.

U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon previously jailed Blixseth for a week in December after finding him in contempt for not giving up details on his sale of the Tamarindo resort in the Mexican state of Jalisco.

Blixseth was freed after seven days by an appeals court, and he subsequently filed thousands of pages of financial records that he said show how the money had been spent.

His attorneys had said he has “substantially complied” and the contempt matter should be ended.

Haddon, however, said Monday that Blixseth would remain in custody until he fully complies with the order.

Blixseth founded the Yellowstone Club with his ex-wife. The club’s creditors are pursuing him for more than $240 million that they say he diverted for personal use.

Creditors have suggested Blixseth tried to hide sale proceeds from the Mexican resort along with money he took from the Yellowstone Club. The trustee for the creditors’ Yellowstone Club Liquidating Trust said Blixseth spent the money on “purely personal expenses” to support his family’s lavish lifestyle.

That includes $2 million spent by Blixseth on his 156-foot yacht and 58-foot fishing boat; nearly $42,000 a month for his wife’s personal expenses; trips to Athens, Rome, Paris, Nice and Istanbul with members of his family; $2,000 for massages and $21,000 for wine, according to trustee Brian Glasser.

The Yellowstone Club, a private ski and golf club near Big Sky, went bankrupt right after Blixseth turned it over to his ex-wife in 2008.

It’s been under new ownership since 2009. A legal fight has dragged on over Blixseth’s transfers of money while he was in control.

Blixeth and his ex-wife misappropriated more than $270 million from a 2005 Credit Suisse loan to the club, tax authorities and his legal adversaries say.

Montana revenue officials say he owes almost $74 million in back taxes, penalties and interest in the state, after a diverting the money from the club to buy luxury cars, jets and high-priced properties in Mexico, Scotland and elsewhere.

Blixseth also has judgments against him for more than $240 million from the liquidating trust.

Blixseth has denied wrongdoing and fought the allegations at every turn.

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