A settlement has been reached in a $7 million lawsuit between an associate of Zappos founder Tony Hsieh and his estate, reports KTNV13.
The lawsuit had been filed by Tony Lee, a friend and former business partner. He claimed that Hsieh had agreed to pay him $1.5 million annually for 5 years. Lee accused Hsieh’s brother Andrew of supplying drugs to his brother and of paying himself “several millions” from the estate’s money to buy expensive personal items, according to the Review Journal.
Hsieh has claimed he protected his brothers from others seeking to take advantage of him. He also said Lee along with other business associates gave his brother poor advice to invest in Park City.
Details of the settlement have not been released and neither side has commented.
In the lawsuit, Lee claimed the Zappos founder actively recruited him, reported KLAS.
“Over the course of their relationship and on multiple occasions since 2003, Tony Hsieh would try to recruit Mr. Lee to work for him, including developing and running the Downtown Las Vegas project,” the lawsuit said. “On another occasion, in 2013, Tony Hsieh had also asked Mr. Lee to found an independent bank in the Las Vegas area that Tony Hsieh would finance. As recently as 2017, Tony Hsieh had asked Mr. Lee to be the founder of a ‘central bank’ for all Zappos cost center.”
Just two months after Hsieh’s death, he was notified his contract with Hsieh had been terminated. He sued to seek the remainder of his pay.
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