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The civil war between Zappos founder and CEO Tony Hsieh's fortune has taken a legal turn after the footwear executive died following a Connecticut house fire.
The former Zappos CEO is believed to have died without a will after he died from injuries sustained in a fire in 2020 at the age of 46.
But an alleged seven-page letter, dated March 2015, unexpectedly arrived in the mail at a Las Vegas courthouse last year, lifting the mystery now at the center of his battle, the Wall Street Journal reported.
QUESTIONS SWIRL AS ZAPPOS FOUNDER INVESTIGATION INTO TONY HSIEH'S DEATH MOVES AHEAD
In this Sept. 30, 2013 file photo, Tony Hsieh speaks during the Grand Rapids Economic Club luncheon in Grand Rapids, Mich. Hsieh, the retired CEO of online shoe retailer Zappos, died of injuries sustained in a house fire in Connecticut.
The alleged will includes a non-compete clause directed at Hsieh's parents and two younger brothers. Under the terms of the document, if one family member objects to the will, they can all be terminated.
Hsieh's father, Richard Hsieh, wants a trial.
Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com Inc., speaks at the Skybridge Alternatives (SALT) conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, on Thursday, May 18, 2017.
The document also reached the office of the trust's Las Vegas attorney Robert Armstrong, who said he had never met Hsieh despite being named as a co-conspirator in the will, according to the Journal.
FIRE THAT KILLED TONY HSIEH COULD BE ATTACKED TO 'NEGLIGENCE,' 'INTENTIONAL ACT': OFFICIALS
A man who identified himself as Kashif Singh is said to have called Armstrong's office and said he found the document among his late grandfather's belongings. The office later received what appeared to be the grandfather's death certificate from Balochistan, Pakistan, the Journal reported.
More than a year later, the origin of this document remains obscure. The suspect who allegedly sent it has not yet appeared in court, the witnesses on the list have not come forward, and Hsieh's family has called it a will scam.
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The photo shows the home where Zappos founder Tony Hsieh was living at the time of the fatal fire.
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A Las Vegas judge in May appointed forensics expert Gerry LaPorte as a special expert to oversee the document examination. LaPorte's team began examining the will in early June in court, after moving about 150 pounds of forensic equipment from his Virginia lab to Nevada, according to court documents cited by the Journal.
The test focuses mainly on analyzing ink, including the ink used in signatures. The process can help determine whether a document is consistent with its stated date of 2015 or whether signatures were added later.
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Additional testing may include handwriting analysis, fingerprint scanning and DNA testing, the Journal reported.
A diagram from the New London Fire Department shows the approximate location of Tony Hsieh's body during the fire.
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Hsieh's family hired their expert, Larry Stewart, a former US Secret Service lab director and senior intelligence scientist. Stewart has worked on major cases including the Unabomber investigation and the Martin Luther King Jr. assassination reinvestigation. and President John F. Kennedy.
LaPorte is expected to submit a written report on July 24, after which family experts can respond. Fox News Digital has reached out to Armstrong, Singh and the Hsieh family's attorney, Dara Goldsmith, for comment.
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