Family of deceased Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh labels the unclear will a ‘fraud’

Family Claims Document Purporting to be Suicide Note is Forged

The family of the late Tony Hsieh asserts that a document believed to be a suicide note from the former Zappos CEO is actually a forgery.

Richard Shea, an attorney managing Hsieh’s $500 million estate since his passing, stated that many of those affected by the 2020 fires formally contested the alleged will, describing it as a “fraud.”

“Fraud can take many forms,” the family’s lawyers mentioned in their filing, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.

They emphasized, “The fraud here is represented by a document claimed to be the supposed will of Anthony ‘Tony’ Hsieh.”

According to family sources, experts tasked with verifying signatures concluded that the signature on this questionable document was indeed forged.

Additionally, a linguistics expert determined that the writing did not reflect professional legal drafting.

The family’s legal representative noted that the purported will seemed to be authored by someone who was not a native English speaker.

This document, alleged to be a suicide note, was presented to the court by a man named Kashif Singh, who said he found it among his grandfather’s possessions after the elder’s death. Singh indicated that his grandfather had been suffering from dementia.

The document identifies Robert Armstrong, a well-known estate attorney in Nevada, as a co-executor of Hsieh’s estate.

Armstrong later stated that he had never met Hsieh and had not participated in any of the founder’s estate planning. He remarked that, after discovering his name linked to the will, he received a call from a man who claimed to be Singh.

Hsieh’s family reported multiple attempts to reach Singh through letters, calls, and emails, but received no responses.

Tony Hsieh, known for selling Zappos to Amazon for approximately $1.2 billion in 2009, tragically passed away in November 2020 due to injuries sustained in a house fire. He was just 46 years old.

At the time of his death, there was a widespread belief that Hsieh did not leave a will, prompting a Nevada court to appoint his father as the estate’s administrator.

The alleged will includes a no-contest clause, threatening Hsieh’s four surviving family members with total disinheritance should anyone contest the document.

A court hearing is set for Thursday in Las Vegas, where a judge is anticipated to address the family’s concerns and the validity of the documents in question.