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Y-stone Club owner has personal debts of $150M

By MATTHEW BROWN - Associated Press Writer - Associated Press
Thursday, April 30, 2009

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Y-stone Club owner has personal debts of $150M

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Court filings show Yellowstone Club owner Edra Blixseth is more than $150 million in debt, while most of her houses, cars and other property have been put up as collateral on overdue loans.

Blixseth and her former husband, Tim, developed from scratch the posh club with its private ski hill near Big Sky. That rags-to-riches tale came full circle last month after she sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to stave off more than 100 creditors owed at least $157 million.

A disclosure of her finances filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Montana showed Blixseth with at least $107 million in assets. The tally did not place a value on the club, which is for sale for at least $100 million but has liabilities topping $400 million.

Among her assets were $469,515 in jewelry; nine homes, condos and guest houses; $2.7 million in fine art; and five cars: a Rolls Royce, two Mercedes, an Aston Martin and a BMW.

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The court filings revealed Blixseth produced zero income last year.

If she receives bankruptcy protection, Blixseth would be shielded from her creditors while she reorganizes to pay off her debts. But Harold Dye, who represents Archer Capital Fund, a New York firm owed $1.9 million, said she could be forced to sell off her property if there is no other way to raise money.

"She doesn't have any alternative with no income coming in," Dye said. "The only thing left is a liquidating plan."

Much of her property has multiple liens and mortgages, meaning she repeatedly borrowed money against their value. Blixseth's debts include $7.6 million in unpaid federal income taxes and at least $4 million in unpaid taxes in California and Montana.

She declared personal bankruptcy after a federal judge in Colorado issued a warrant for her arrest following her failure to pay back a $13.2 million loan from Western Capital Partners of Denver.

She took control of the club last August as part of her divorce settlement, only to have it collapse financially three months later. Her other businesses also are foundering, including a failed housing development in Bozeman and a software company, Blxware, that has been hamstrung with lawsuits.

Meanwhile, she's trying to unload the Yellowstone Club for $100 million to Sam Byrne of CrossHarbor Capital Partners LLC of Boston. The selling price could be driven higher during an auction scheduled to begin next week.

Edra Blixseth owes CrossHarbor and Byrne $35 million. That fact has been seized on by attorneys for Tim Blixseth who say she is beholden to Byrne and any sale to him would be tainted.

Tim Blixseth has been sued by the club's creditors over his involvement in a $375 million loan for the resort. Most of that money was later transferred to accounts under his control, and he's been accused of "looting" at least $200 million from the club.

Tim Blixseth argues the club's finances went bad only after control passed to Edra.

How much of the 2005 loan ended up with Edra Blixseth is uncertain. Several of the accounts that received the loan money were jointly held by the couple before their divorce.

This is Edra Blixseth's second go-round with bankruptcy. In the late 1980s in Oregon, where she ran a restaurant and Tim was in the timber business, the couple declared bankruptcy after lumber prices crashed and her restaurant fell into debt.

The couple moved to Montana in 1993 and over the next several years began accumulating the land that was to become the Yellowstone Club. They attracted more than 300 deep-pocketed members, among them former Vice President Dan Quayle, Los Angeles Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt and hotel mogul Barry Sternlicht.

Property sales dried up last year when the real estate market turned south, cutting off the spigot of new money that had fueled the club's development. The resort's pending sale will determine who gets their money back in the bankruptcy cases of both Edra Blixseth and the club.

"Certainly the higher the value the more chance of being paid," said Kenneth Frazier, an attorney for Palm Desert National Bank, which is owed $2.5 million.

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