LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Months after a purported will belonging to former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh was discovered, the mystery continues to get more complex.
As we first told you last month, a man named Kashif Singh claims he found Hsieh's will among the personal effects of his grandfather, Pir Muhammad, when he died.
JUNE 2025: Attorneys investigating newly-discovered Tony Hsieh will
It's the latest wrinkle in the ongoing effort to settle the Hsieh estate, worth an estimated $513 million at the time of his death.
But for those tasked with executing the estate, finding Singh or proof of his grandfather's death has not been easy, it was revealed in court on Thursday.
According to court records, Vivian Thoreen and Dara Goldsmith (attorneys for Hsieh's father, Richard) have so far been unable to find or get in touch with anyone named in the will.
That includes Pir Muhammad, who allegedly had Hsieh's will among his possessions when he died, and his grandson, Kashif Singh, who allegedly discovered it.
The attorneys found a "purported death certificate" for Pir Muhammad, Goldsmith said, but they claim "there is no day (listed), and you can't locate the death certificate" without using Muhammad's Pakistani national identity card number to order it.
"We don't actually know whether the (will) was located in Pakistan," Goldsmith added. "We don't know where in the world it was located. We don't know if this is the same Pir Muhammad."
Court records show Hsieh estate representatives have unsuccessfully tried to contact five people the will names as "disinterested witnesses" — meaning they don't stand to inherit anything from it. And they claim they've been unable to get in touch with Singh himself, either.
"On June 24, 2025, at approximately 10:50 a.m. PDT, I called Kashif Singh," Thoreen wrote in a court filing. "The call went straight to voicemail, which was a computerized/electronic voice...To date, I have not received a call back, an email, or any other communication from Mr. Singh."
Thoreen stated her office also sent a letter to Singh's address in Cheyenne, Wyo., which is the same address he provided in a March letter to the court.
"Although U.S. Postal records show that the letter was delivered and that someone signed for it, I have not received the signed receipt for the letter, and I have not received a response from Mr. Singh," Thoreen stated.
For their part, executors of the new will argue none of that matters because the will is "self-proving" — which essentially means it proves its own validity through a sworn statement.
"The will that has come forward is presumed valid if it meets all the statutory requirements. The will does meet all those requirements," said attorney Jennifer Willis. "It's not their duty to determine if the will is valid."
The attorneys for Hsieh's estate argue it doesn't make sense not to track down those named in the purported will.
"Just because we have names on a document doesn't mean we have valid names," Goldsmith said. "They could be Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Donald Trump. The document wouldn't be valid because they didn't live at the same time."
Judge Carolyn Ellsworth sided with attorneys for Hsieh's estate, allowing them to move forward with their investigation.
"Suddenly, a purported will pops up with some interesting and kind of unusual provisions, to say the least," Ellsworth said, adding that administrators of the estate wouldn't be doing their due diligence if they didn't investigate.
We expect to learn more in upcoming hearings scheduled for September 25.