BILLINGS, Mont. — Former billionaire Tim Blixseth and his creditors reached a $3 million settlement to satisfy longstanding 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 Friday.
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 decade-long 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.