Wallace said:
Researching this further, I see that GL and 3 other individuals were original investors and bought a 4% stake in the Yellowstone venture. The venture is essentially a private ski mountain and accompanying luxury homes. The principal developer is described as a billionaire named Mr. Blixseth, who purchased the mountain on-the-cheap from the U.S. Forestry Service.
Blixseth then went out, secured $365M financing for the project from Credit Suisse, and then over the course of several years promptly bilked $280M of that money for his personal use and moved it amongst various "shell" holding corps.
At time of the proposed sale to another (larger) investor, Blixseth offered $13M to buy out GL/Co.'s 4% stake. Lemond cried foul, and the court ruled in GL's favor that the 4% stake was actually worth $39.5M, not $13M.
Lemond & Co. rec'd partial payment, but Blixseth defaulted on the rest. Blixseth AND his ex-wife are now both in bankruptcy. The ex-wife got the business venture in the divorce deal, and she is now suing to RECOVER payments made to Lemond & Co., saying that since the Yellowstone Club itself is in Chapter 11, no payments should ever have been made.
Who knows how much Lemond has actually rec'd... Who knows how how large his attorney's running tab is... And who knows what the original buy-in was to get the 4%... Similar to the pre-pre IPO stage of financing, my guess is he probably got in for several $M. Again at that point, it was merely a mountain and a set of blueprints...
Anyhoo, since you have a better grasp on GL being "rich", can you tell us what his total career earnings were? I mean, back in the day, the pros didn't make much. I think Hinault was making $100K when Lemond first turned pro. And it was HUGE (virtually scandalous) when GL became the first pro to sign a $1M contract (and that was over 3yrs, I think?). In terms of endorsement income, perhaps you've forgotten Lemond's Taco Bell commercial (It was not exactly "must-see TV")...
I have no idea if the guy is "rich". It's not like he's making $15M/yr in endorsements from the drug companies.
![Roll Eyes :rolleyes: :rolleyes:](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)