Billionaire and Sublette County financier Joe Ricketts filed a civil lawsuit this week alleging he was defrauded out of tens of millions of dollars in real estate dealings that were pursued during efforts to trade for federal land that would connect his private holdings along the Hoback River.
Filed Monday in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming, the lawsuit claims that two men, former business agent Morgan Fischer and Star Valley developer Dan Schwab, conspired to defraud Ricketts out of $33.6 million by getting him to pay $55.6 million for real estate that was only worth $22 million.
“The scheme paired two financially desperate men, each burdened by substantial debt and each seeking to financially exploit Ricketts for his own personal gain,” attorneys for Ricketts wrote.
“Defendant Schwab, who previously served a federal sentence for fraud and against whom a bank was then pursuing a legal judgment for $1.2 million, controlled multiple stagnant properties encumbered by major debt and co-owned with increasingly disgruntled business partners,” the introduction to the lawsuit states. “Defendant Fischer controlled something even more valuable: Ricketts’s trust and confidence.”
Fennemore law firm attorneys January Allen, Daniel Reilly, John McHugh and Amy Jones are representing Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade who’s worth an estimated $9.8 billion. His family also owns the Chicago Cubs.
Fischer, formerly Ricketts’ agent during his efforts to develop a Bondurant resort, did not respond to an interview request.
Schwab deferred to his attorney, Frank Chapman, who said he’ll be defending his client “vigorously” against what he called a “slap suit.” (Frank Chapman is not the same person who just ran for Congress, although both are Jackson Hole residents.)
“This is apparently typical business for Mr. Ricketts, to try to bully people with his money,” Chapman told WyoFile on Wednesday. “Much of what they’ve alleged here is just materially untrue. He soured on the deal, apparently, because he couldn’t get his way with the Forest [Service], and now he’s trying to slap back.”
Ricketts declined an interview for this story. He “respects the legal process and will not comment on this matter while proceedings are ongoing,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
The 60-page complaint includes an elaborate narrative that argues Ricketts was misled and overpaid for two primary properties. One is the luxury fly-in community once marketed as “Renegade, Wyoming,” which is surrounded by Bridger-Teton National Forest land up the Greys River. Formerly, the development was known as the Blindbull Meadows subdivision, a development that caused a stir in Star Valley when Schwab, a part owner, sought to develop it in 2013. The second acquisition was for inaccessible riparian land dubbed “The Point” that’s located near the Snake and Greys river confluence outside of Alpine.
Ricketts purchased the properties for $55.6 million with the intent of exchanging them with the Forest Service for Bridger-Teton land that connects two ranches he owns in Bondurant. Along Upper Hoback River Road, the billionaire possesses the Jackson Fork and the Dead Shot ranches, which he tried and failed to conjoin under a conditional-use permit.
The lawsuit states that “for decades” Ricketts wanted to restore the Hoback River where it flows through his ranch.
“To achieve that goal, Ricketts would first have to secure adjacent lands belonging to the Forest Service,” the lawsuit states.
According to the lawsuit, Ricketts tasked his former agent Fischer with developing a strategy for the federal land exchange. Unbeknownst to the billionaire, his representative “was experiencing significant financial pressures.”
“ …Defendant Fischer determined that the land he was tasked with acquiring for the potential federal land swap could serve as the basis to defraud Ricketts,” the complaint states. “In his desperation to relieve his financial strain, he found a willing partner in Dan Schwab.”
The lawsuit includes photographs and meeting notes and it quotes correspondence to make the case that Ricketts was misled. Fischer allegedly told Ricketts that a real estate agent told him the Forest Service “would do back flips” to acquire the The Point and Renegade properties, and were “salivating” about them.
Ricketts “recently” learned in a meeting with Forest Service officials that the Bridger-Teton was “not interested” in a land exchange for the properties, calling it a “non-starter,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit also contends that Ricketts also overpaid as a result of “rigged appraisals, concealed insider pricing, and captive intermediaries.” An independent appraisal of the Point valued it at $171,000, just 6% of the $2.9 million he paid. And Ricketts forked over $52.75 million for the Renegade properties, nearly two and a half times the $21.9 million appraised value.
The lawsuit adds another twist to Ricketts’ Wyoming saga. The bison rancher is a divisive figure in Sublette County.
After purchasing Bondurant ranchland cut by the Hoback River in the late 1990s, he earned accolades for a $1.75 million donation that helped seal the deal on a buyout that kept gas wells out of the Noble Basin and Cliff Creek areas. The 85-year-old businessman also donated $1 million that helped open the doors on Sublette County’s first hospital, and he purchased Pinedale’s often-struggling White Pine Ski Area. Just recently, he earned some flattering publicity for his investments in a new nonprofit, Saving Yellowstone, that aims to conserve the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
But his land dealings have also drawn significant scrutiny. A 2020 effort to develop an all-inclusive luxury Bondurant resort was initially rebuffed, then approved despite heavy opposition in the small Bondurant community. After a failed effort to get county commissioners to waive seasonal wildlife stipulations, he canceled the resort in 2024, citing high costs. Around the same time, Ricketts purchased the 33-acre Safari Club International property along Granite Creek north of Bondurant, which he plans to expand and open as a guest ranch, dubbed The Hawken.
Ricketts’ lawsuit includes allegations of violations of interstate land sales, a breach of fiduciary duty, fraudulent inducement, fraudulent misrepresentation, civil conspiracy and a “Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations” claim.
His attorneys’ request for relief include a payment of $33.6 million, various fees and reimbursements and “all other relief available … as the Court may deem appropriate.”
We all should be familiar with the saying: If you’re so smart, why aren’t you rich? It is usually used as a put down of people who dare to disagree with a wealthy person, regardless of the inanity of the rich dude’s statement or the questionable source of their lucre.
However, what about the converse: If you’re so rich, why aren’t you smart?
Be careful using this statement in the vicinity of the rich. They generally have poorly developed senses of humor especially when that humor is aimed at them and their oh-so precious wealth.
Matthew 6:24 – … “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Mammon = money.)
Joy Ufford and Brad Radakovich’s comments below point to the need for a more in-depth report on Rickett’s land trade “shenanigans” to lock up public lands for his private resorts. There has been quite a bit of greenwashing over Rickett’s so-called conservation efforts, e.g. his recent “save Yellowstone” campaign. (https://yellowstonian.org/american-businessman-wyoming-philanthropist-targets-ambitious-goal-saving-yellowstone/). Clearly, Ricketts is only interested in “saving Yellowstone” for his own pecuniary benefit.
Having lived in the Yellowstone Country for 34 years, and having seen much of the ecologically damaged world in my career beforehand as a professional Army officer, I have long since concluded that the single greatest threat to ecosystems is economic privatization and development. So, WyoFile, let’s see a story about how Joe Ricketts and other billionaires are dead set on privatizing our public lands and are going about it with the self-centered help of some in the conservation community.
Yep.
Having seen Mr. Ricketts’ agent during Sublette County Planning and Zoning hearings, where he insulted my neighbors and friends who dared to ask a question or refused to kowtow to bullying, I’m not surprised by this legal action. What IS surprising is that an out-of-state businessman, with the financial ability to pay billions (www.forbes.com/sites/lisakim/2022/04/15/ricketts-family-led-group-withdraws-bid-for-chelsea-fc/) for a British sports team could be so easily snookered. It makes one wonder if other deals in the works are legitimate or of this same nature?
The billionre saved money by not hiring a detective agency to verify the litimacy of his business partners. Definition: Billionare a person who has the government do
back flips for him.
poor Joe.
Years ago as a Sublette County reporter, I spoke off the record with a very relevant BTNF official about this very subject. Mr. Ricketts was fixated on connecting his Hoback River holdings over the mountains to the Greys River properties as a continuous private enterprise.
He was spending millions to achieve this needed FS land swap and the official showed me maps and other communication that couldn’t be used as the process of requesting a land swap was apparently not quite public information. The official noted that the swap would close a great deal of public access, and the popularity of the Upper Hoback trailhead is apparent…
More recently I went past the Greys River “resort” areas and noticed it was obviously closed with warning signs and no improvements.
I had the feeling back then that Mr Ricketts would pay almost any price to achieve the Hoback-Greys connections, exactly as he did in Hoback Basin to try and sew up the Hoback.
If Mr Ricketts is such a smart trader, he could have called this swap off any time. With all the months and deals Morgan Fischer made from Bondurant with such flair, and Mr Ricketts present for most, I think, both wanted to believe in this land swap as essentially done.
I’m calling this “Sour Grapes” because I believe the billionaire finally was told NO. That it took this long for the BTNF to officially say NO is a shame. But it’s done and over… Caveat Emptor…
Joy, you are right on the mark. Ricketts contributed signifant funds to help buy out the proposed natural gas development. We all contributed what we could afford. Rumors back then were that his motives were self serving; apparently he couldn’t have a project like that affecting the very federal land he had his proposed land trade and resort dream based on. Later, his acquisition of the “overpriced” properties in other areas with the intent of the rumored land swap in our treasured and beautiful Bondurant area foretold his intent. Having already purchased nearly every available private property in the Upper Hoback River area, his sights were set on our federal land surrounding his holdings. As a Bondurant resident, I, and much of the community, knew something was afoot that would result in us getting the proverbial shaft.
Well, apparently that shaft got buried somewhere else! Cry me a river.
To locals and visitors alike who enjoy the Granite Creek area, including its hot springs pool, keep an eye out. A facility like that would make a nice addition to a resort that is about to be developed by this same billionaire, Mr. Ricketts.
We all need to do our homework to ensure OUR public lands stay in public hands.
Please don’t call him a Wyoming Billionaire. Maybe Carpetbagger billionaire is a better description.
Buyer beware……nobody will look out for your best interests except yourself. What is that Beatle song again, oh yeah “a fool and his money”
Pobrecito.
It appears Ricketts didn’t exercise due diligence in selecting his agents/associates. Caveat emptor …