Timothy Lee Blixseth (born 1950) is an American real estate developer, record producer, songwriter and timber baron.
Blixseth was involved[clarification needed] with three Oregon companies that defaulted on 22 national timber sale contracts owed the U.S. Forest Service more than $8 million.
Following this final sale and swap, Blixseth dissolved the Big Sky Lumber partnership and divided up the proceeds, keeping 15,000 acres (61 km2) and tens of millions in cash for himself.
[16] Blixseth with Pittsburgh financier James J. Dolan also started the Spanish Peaks development, a high-end but somewhat less exclusive resort on neighboring property to the Yellowstone Club with land from the swap deal.
With cash and land from his 1995 deal with the U.S. Forest Service, Blixseth began development of 15,000 acres (61 km2) of pristine Montana real estate outside of Big Sky.
Early Club members and investors included Bill Gates, Mary Hart, Dan Quayle and Steve Case.
"[22] The Credit Suisse loan was based on a $1.16 billion Cushman & Wakefield valuation of the resort and for which LeMond and partners each sought $11.6 million for their one percent shares.
[42] In response to the conspiracy and bias charges, Judge Kirscher ruled against Blixseth's request for recusal noting, "This Court has not and will not succumb to any pressure, political or otherwise."
"[44] In a subsequent press release by his attorney Mike Flynn, Blixseth claimed, "All parties who played any role in the forced bankruptcy will now be subject to depositions, including Montana Gov.
[47] Blixseth's claims were dismissed in March 2012 by U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy whose order noted, "The Bankruptcy Court addressed the Credit Suisse loan and the marital settlement agreement and concluded that (1) Mr. Blixseth fraudulently misappropriated the proceeds from the Credit Suisse loan and (2) the release in the marital settlement agreement was fraudulent.
[49] Blixseth then filed suit against Credit Suisse and their appraisal company claiming they deceived and mislead him into accepting some $300 million in loan payments which eventually led to the resort's bankruptcy.
[50] A claim to which Credit Suisse responded, "This is simply the latest attempt to shift blame to others and away from his own conduct" in a Bloomberg News report which added, "Blixseth had, among other things, been ordered to pay $40 million to creditors in 2010 when a federal judge pinned the financial collapse of the ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club on a series of his fraudulent deals.
"[51] Creditors are seeking an additional $286 million in alleged misappropriated funds which trustees claim Blixseth looted from the Yellowstone Club prior to its bankruptcy.
In 1981 he met and married his third wife Edra Denise Crocker, a partner in a local Roseburg-based hotel and restaurant business called Choo-Choo Willy's.
[57] Blixseth's third divorce from wife Edra Denise Crocker was first touted in 2009 as a case study in amicable separations where the two hashed out their agreement over wine at a Hollywood hotel without attorneys.
[59] While initially both were quoted amicably about each other and the divorce, the tide quickly changed as the details of Ms. Blixseth's newly acquired financial debts came to light.
Commenting on her ex-husband, Ms. Blixseth told the New York Times in 2009, "I would rather feel the cold steel of a revolver in the roof of my mouth and pull the trigger than to ever think about living a day with that man again.