The Times - UK (2021-12-21)

38 Tuesday December 21 2021 | the times

Wo r l d

In life, the entrepreneur Tony Hsieh
was a proponent of peace, harmony and
happiness as he forged a billion-dollar
empire at the head of the shoe retailer
Zappos.
Now, a year after his death in a fire at
the age of 46, friends, colleagues and
family are fighting over his $840 mil-
lion estate in a legal showdown that
could drag on for years.
Family members say that associates
seeking a slice of Hsieh’s fortune took
financial advantage of him while he
struggled with drug and alcohol abuse
and mental health challenges.
“Tony’s true friends, not interested in
profiting from Tony’s condition, be-

The father of the cinematographer
accidentally shot by Alec Baldwin
insisted that the actor was “partially
guilty” for his daughter’s death on set.
Anatoly Androsovych rejected
Baldwin’s claim that he did not even
pull the trigger to fire the fatal shot at
Halyna Hutchins, 42, while rehearsing
with a gun he was told was “cold”,
meaning it contained no live rounds.
Androsovych had said shortly after
the accident that he did not hold Bald-
win responsible but blamed “the props
people who handle the guns”.
Baldwin, 63, was served with a search
warrant for his mobile phone last week
by Sante Fe sheriffs as their
investigation continued into culp-
ability for the shooting in October
while filming a western, Rust, which
also left Joel Souza, the director, with a
shoulder injury.
The actor told ABC earlier this

David Charter Washington

Victim’s father blames Baldwin for set death

month that he did not pull the trigger

and felt no guilt because he believed he

had done nothing wrong. “I let go of the

hammer, bang. The gun goes off. Every-

one is horrified. They’re shocked,” he

said.

Androsovych, 61, a Ukrainian former

submarine captain, told The Sun: “I

can’t understand the behaviour of Alec.

Why did he sweep out his tweets when

it became clear the shooting was on

rehearsal?

“Why did he fire the shot during the

preparations? The revolver is the type

of gun which doesn’t shoot before the

trigger is pressed and Alec is partially

guilty for causing that shot. It is clear to

me Baldwin fired the shot from his

hand so it’s hard for me to understand

how he cannot be held partly responsi-

ble for my daughter’s death.”

He said he was worried that his

nine-year-old grandson, Andros, might

not fully recover. “Andros is slowly

getting back to life but this is huge blow

for all of us,” he said. Speaking to The

Sun in October, Androsovych said: “We

still can’t believe Halyna is dead and her

mother is going out of her mind with

grief. But I don’t hold Alec Baldwin

responsible — it is the responsibility of

the props people who handle the guns.

[Halyna’s son] has been very badly

affected — he is lost without his

mother.”

Baldwin has denied a report in

Newsweek that he requested a larger

Colt gun for the scene. “This, in fact is a

lie,” Baldwin tweeted over the article

link. “The choices regarding any props

by me for the film were made weeks

before production began. To suggest

that any changes were made ‘before

fatal shooting’ is false,” he said.

According to the search warrant for

his phone, Baldwin told police that he

exchanged emails with the film’s

armourer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed,

regarding what style of gun to use

before they settled on a Colt 45 pistol.

A teacher in Washington has been sus-

pended for making her class of eight

and nine-year-olds enact scenes from

the Holocaust, with a Jewish child

taking the role of Hitler and others sim-

ulating executions and digging their

classmates’ mass graves.

The teacher at Watkins Elementary

School was placed on leave after

parents complained that their children

had been asked to perform the tableau

last Friday. At the end of the class, the

Jewish pupil assigned the role of Hitler

was told to pretend to commit suicide.

Another parent complained that her

son had been asked to pretend to be on

a train to a concentration camp, then to

shoot other pupils and die in a gas

chamber. When pupils asked why the

Germans carried out the Holocaust,

they were allegedly told it was “because

Teacher made her class act

out Holocaust murder scenes

the Jews ruined Christmas”. The

teacher allegedly urged the children

not to tell anyone about the class, the

Washington Post reported, but word of it

soon leaked to parents.

The teacher has not been named by

the school but she has been identified

by furious parents as a library specialist

previously convicted of defrauding a

school district in New Jersey.

“I want to acknowledge the gravity of

this poor instructional decision,” Scott

Berkowitz, the school’s head teacher,

said in an email apologising to parents.

The children met with the school’s

response team on mental health

following the class, Berkowitz added,

and the incident has been reported to

the local education authorities.

“This was not an approved lesson

plan, and we sincerely apologise to stu-

dents and families,” a DC Public

Schools spokesman said.

Hugh Tomlinson Washington

Horror show Destruction caused by tornados that struck the US 11 days ago are plain to see from what remains of the American Legion theatre in Mayfield, Kentucky

Space tourist

has stars in

eyes after trip

Russia

Marc Bennetts Moscow

A Japanese billionaire has returned to

Earth after 12 days as a paying guest on

the International Space Station — and

is keen to return to space.

Yusaku Maezawa, a fashion tycoon,

landed in a Russian Soyuz capsule in

Kazakhstan yesterday with Yozo Hira-

no, his production assistant, and Alex-

ander Misurkin, a cosmonaut.

Before leaving the station Maezawa,

46, posted a YouTube video displaying

a handheld suction device that he used

for urinating in zero gravity. “Peeing is

very easy,” he said.

The flight was seen as a practice run

for a proposed journey around the

Moon with Elon Musk’s SpaceX in 2023.

Rescue teams reached the landing

site in all-terrain vehicles. The three

men were said to be in good health.

Maezawa, a former drummer in a

punk rock band, made his fortune

through e-commerce companies and is

estimated by Forbes to be worth

£1.4 billion. His trip cost about £66 mil-

lion. He defended the expense saying

that “those who criticise are perhaps

those who have never been to space”.

He said that 12 days was about the

right time to spend in orbit because it

gave him the chance to adapt to motion

sickness before enjoying the trip.

BRANDON BELL/GETTY IMAGES

Battle over peace-loving tycoon’s millions

United States
Jacqui Goddard Miami

came increasingly concerned about

Tony’s health and many were looking

for ways to get Tony professional help,”

court documents said. “Unfortunately,

in the months since Tony had left the

rehabilitation facility, several less scru-

pulous people prominently occupied

Tony’s attention and were living large,

all at Tony’s expense.”

But friends say that their claims on

his estate are based on genuine loyalty

and business dealings, for which they

are owed millions of dollars. Some have

filed in evidence sticky notes on which

Hsieh scribbled financial pledges and

deals as “proof” of his intentions.

A judge named Hsieh’s father and

brother as administrators of his estate,

since he had not made a will, but several

lawsuits contest that the estate should

be split. Jennifer “Mimi” Pham, a long-

time assistant and friend, is seeking

more than $90 million. Tony

Lee, a financial adviser to

Hsieh, states that he is

owed $7.5 million.

Another associate

wants $30 million for

project management.

Lawyers for Pham

and Lee have not com-

mented on the family’s

claims.

Hsieh was a start-up

investor in Zappos and

served as its chief executive

officer for 21 years before his retirement

in August 2020. He was also co-founder

of LinkExchange, a web adver-

tising business that he sold

to Microsoft for $265 mil-

lion in 1998, at 24.

At Zappos he led his

workforce on the phi-

losophy that a job was

more than just a job

and that happiness

and wellbeing should

be prioritised. He

espoused employee

happiness as a priority

and built the company on a

culture of fun, theorising that if

staff felt good about themselves then

productivity and profits would follow.

In his book, Delivering Happiness: A

Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose, he

expounded a belief that “your personal

core values define who you are, and a

company’s core values define the

company’s character and brand. For

individuals, character is destiny. For

organisations, culture is destiny.”

In the year before his death he had

become consumed by drug abuse,

including a habit of inhaling nitrous

oxide. He had also become delusional,

saying that he had created an algorithm

for world peace.

He died in a fire at a shed at a friend’s

home in Connecticut, where there

were candles and a propane gas tank,

after a row with a girlfriend.

Investigators said the fire was caused

either by “carelessness or an intention-

al act by Mr Hsieh”.

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Tony Hsieh’s family claim that friends stafffeltgoodabo

and colleagues preyed on the tycoon

as he battled a drug addiction