Tony Hsieh's 'assistant, right-hand person' says she's owed $93M of $840M estate after Zappos founder's death
When Zappos founder Tony Hsieh died, he did not leave a will. Of his million-dollar estate, he would leave deals written on thousands of Post-It notes. With a "mess" like this, Hsieh's self-described "right-hand person" is now seeking more than $93 million from his $840 million estate.
According to the latest reports, Jennifer 'Mimi' Pham, the 46-year-old former assistant to Hsieh, on Wednesday, filed claims that she deserves the sum due to her involvement in a series of important business deals.
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Pham's claims ask the court for the money as part of management fees for a documentary movie streaming business and the Big Moose Yacht Club in Park City, Utah. According to reports, the claim references "the anticipated profit" of $75 million, which she claims she is owed 10%.
According to the lawsuits, the duo was so close, Hsieh used Pham’s cell phone as his own. The lawsuits also claim Hsieh and Pham used the same address. The two lawsuits that she filed in February, claim that she is owed some of Hsieh's "vast fortune". The lawsuits estimated Hsieh’s wealth at $840 million.
This is the latest in a series of lawsuits that Pham has filed against Hsieh's estate. In the claim, which was reportedly filed last month in Nevada, Pham claimed that Hsieh had asked her to work on a new venture with his documentary movie company, Pickled Entertainment, LLC. Following that, they drew out a contract on August 26, 2020, in which Pham, through her company, Mr. Taken, LLC, would "provide to [Hsieh's] Company certain management and administrative support services," according to court papers.
In addition to that, Pham claims Hsieh hired her to oversee the Big Moose Yacht Club, his upmarket hotel in Park City, Utah, and that she would manage space rentals at the site. She reportedly added that, at one point, she helped secure a business license from the city.
However, according to the latest reports, his father Richard and brother Andrew Hsieh, who are administrating Hsieh's estate, say the contract was suspended on January 28, 2021.
Pham who filed the earlier suit, which was filed on January 20, 2021, claimed that Hsieh owed her hundreds of thousands of dollars for her involvement in another venture. Her lawyers described their client as Hsieh's "assistant, right-hand person, and friend for 17 years before his death".
Hsieh died on November 27, 2020, nine days after he was pulled out unconscious from a burning shed that was attached to a waterfront home in New London, Connecticut, soon after 3:30 AM. A dispatch tape reportedly revealed that Hsieh was "barricaded" inside the shed. The dispatcher reportedly said: "The male is barricaded inside and not answering the door. Everyone else is outside the house. They are trying to get him to open up."
Reports at the time said that without a will, Hsieh's family was trying to trace his full worth and recent business deals. According to Forbes' estimates, Hsieh was worth hundreds of millions of dollars when he died in November. At the same time, WSJ reported that Hsieh went on a wild spending spree in Park City in the months leading up to his death. The founder's family, shortly after his death when speaking to the publication, said that "no decisions on the future of the estate have been made since Tony Hsieh’s recent, sudden and unexpected death.”