Former Nacho Daddy director of operations sues Tony Hsieh’s estate

A man who previously filed a $30 million creditor’s claim against the estate of late tech mogul Tony Hsieh is now suing the estate.

Mark Evensvold, the former director of operations and director of business development for Nacho Daddy, filed a $12.5 million creditor’s claim in June 2021 that he amended to a $30 million creditor’s claim three months later, court records show.

Since Richard Hsieh, Tony Hsieh’s father and the administrator of his estate, has not notified Evensvold if he has accepted or rejected the creditor’s claim, Evensvold can “treat the creditor claim as deemed rejected” and move forward with a lawsuit, according to a complaint filed Friday.

Attorneys for Evensvold and Tony Hsieh’s family did not reply to requests for comment on Monday.

Tony Hsieh was 46 when he died on Nov. 26, 2020, from injuries suffered in a Connecticut house fire. He died without a will, prompting lengthy court battles over his estate in which both his family and business associates have accused each side of taking advantage of the former Zappos CEO.

Multiple court documents have claimed that Tony Hsieh was malnourished, barely slept and abused ketamine and nitrous oxide in the final years before his death. His estate has claimed that his line of credit reached $250 million before his death while he tried to fund projects in Park City, Utah, including building a theme park where visitors would use tarot cards to gain entry and exchange seashells as currency.

Evensvold claimed in Friday’s lawsuit that he went to work for Tony Hsieh in 2020 and was offered an annual salary of $450,000, plus a signing bonus of 20 percent of Hsieh’s interest in the Nacho Daddy chain. Evensvold had worked for the restaurant since 2011, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, Tony Hsieh previously told Evensvold “he would do whatever he could to make Evensvold a part-owner of Nacho Daddy.”

Evensvold resigned from Nacho Daddy and relocated to Park City, Utah, where he worked on projects including an “ice castle venue,” an ice skating rink, a “Geo Globe community at the Park City Movie Studio,” a bar, a “patio,” and “creating a boat/bar for Tony’s Park City property,” according to the lawsuit.

At the time of Tony Hsieh’s death, Evensvold was anticipating working on future projects, including bars, restaurants, and a “magic-themed entertainment venue,” the lawsuit said.

Previous court records indicate that Evensvold claimed he had a contract with Tony Hsieh detailing his loosely defined work responsibilities, including “work on random projects like koi fish or tree houses.” A copy of the contract written on a Post-it note was included in the filing for Evensvold’s initial creditor’s claim.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.