Fairless Hills Tied To Mystery Of $513 Million Estate Of Deceased Tech Entrepreneur

Tony Hsieh in an old photo on his Facebook page.

A headline-grabbing court case over the estate of late tech entrepreneur Tony Hsieh has led to a connection to Fairless Hills, as attorneys investigate the origins of a previously unknown will.

Hsieh, who was part of an early internet ad network and led online retailer Zappos until his retirement in August 2020, died in a shed fire in New London, Connecticut, in November 2020.

His death was ruled accidental and came after mental health and addiction issues, according to the New York Times.

While Hsieh’s estimated estate is valued at $513 million, according to Nevada court filings this year, the case has been thrown into turmoil by the surfacing of an alleged will that was signed in 2015.

Hsieh’s father had been administering the estate and there was no known will prior to the mysterious document showing up at a courthouse.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month that envelopes related to the alleged will arrived at a Las Vegas courthouse earlier this year. One envelope was mailed from Connecticut with a Las Vegas return address, and another was mailed from Fairless Hills with a Wyoming return address.

A postal worker unloading mail from a truck during the early months of COVID-19. File photo.

Public records reviewed by this news organization indicate Hsieh, whose legal name was Anthony Chia Hua Hsieh, had past addresses in Nevada, California, Washington, Massachusetts, and South Dakota, but none in Pennsylvania.

Hsieh’s family had maintained that he died without a will until a man named Kashif Singh came forward.

Singh stated that the will had been in personal effects of his grandfather, Pir Muhammad after his death, according to court records reviewed by LevittownNow.com.

Muhammad, who lived in Pakistan, was reportedly unaware of Hsieh’s death because he was dealing with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis, court documents said.

The alleged will, which was filed in Clark County, Nevada, court records on April 2 after being received by the court in early March, names trusts, his family, and other beneficiaries who stand to receive millions and several Nevada properties.

The will, if confirmed to be real, leaves $3 million for Harvard University, $1 million to a trustee, $500,000 for the American Red Cross, $500,000 for Unicef, and money to other groups.

The 2015 document states that “none of the beneficiaries are aware” of the will, and that it was structured to allow the beneficiaries to “experience the ‘WOW’ factor in life,” according to the will filed with the court.

Since the alleged will was filed in spring, according to the New York Post and Wall Street Journal, attorneys have been scouring records to authenticate the document.

The New York Post published an article that the alleged will was received by a Nevada estate attorney who had no prior connection to Hsieh, who was unmarried and a major downtown Las Vegas property owner.

KLAS-TV reported that witnesses listed on the will have not responded to attorneys seeking more information.

Dara Goldsmith, who represents the Hsieh estate, shared skepticism earlier this year to KLAS-TV about the document’s validity.

“Just because we have names that appear on a document doesn’t mean that we have a valid document,” Goldsmith said. “Just as easily have the witnesses’ names be Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Donald Trump, and we say, ‘Chances are that’s not going to be a valid document because these people weren’t alive at the same time.’”

Advertisement