EXCLUSIVE: Colleagues of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh fear his addiction to nitrous oxide whippets, burning candles and Grey Goose vodka could be behind explosion that led to his death - as it's revealed he was 'barricaded' in a shed when blaze broke out
- Tony Hsieh, 46, was pulled unconscious from a burning shed attached to a home in New London, Connecticut, on November 18, dying in a hospital nine days later
- Friends exclusively told DailyMail.com that the Zappos CEO's drug abuse was escalating at the time of his death
- His heavy alcohol and drug use was known by everyone around him,' the colleague said, adding: 'Anyone that challenged him about it was cast aside'
- Others voiced fear his use of the laughing gas nitrous oxide and his love of candles could have caused the fire that killed him
- 'In recent months the nitrous oxide had become as important to Tony as his alcohol,' one close colleague said. 'And Grey Goose vodka was his best friend'
- Another said: 'The talk among his former colleagues at Zappos is that Tony was likely in the shed blacked out drunk and on drugs'
- A dispatch tape obtained by DailyMail.com revealed that he was 'barricaded' inside the shed, and wasn't answering the door
- Firefighters had to force their way to drag him out, but they were too late His death was ruled accidental and he died of complications of smoke inhalation
- A spokeswoman for the office confirmed to DailyMail.com that the ruling was made before toxicology reports — not due till after the New Year
Shoe magnate Tony Hsieh's drug abuse was growing fast at the time of his death, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively. And friends fear that his use of the laughing gas nitrous oxide and his love of candles could have caused the fire that killed him.
'In recent months the nitrous oxide had become as important to Tony as his alcohol,' one close colleague said. 'And Grey Goose vodka was his best friend.'
Although nitrous oxide is not flammable it does accelerate the burning of combustible material that is already alight, according to PubChem.
Hsieh, 46, was pulled unconscious from the burning shed attached to a waterfront home in New London, Connecticut, shortly after 3:30 am on November 18. He died in hospital nine days later.
A dispatch tape obtained by DailyMail.com revealed that he was 'barricaded' inside the shed.
'The male is barricaded inside and not answering the door,' the dispatcher says.
'Everyone else is outside the house. They are trying to get him to open up.'
Firefighters had to force their way in to drag him out, but they were too late to save his life.
The Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has already ruled his death accidental and that he died of complications of smoke inhalation.
Shoe magnate Tony Hsieh's drug abuse was growing fast at the time of his death, DailyMail.com has learned exclusively. And friends fear that his use of the laughing gas nitrous oxide and his love of candles could have caused the fire that killed him
Hsieh, 46, was pulled unconscious from a burning shed (pictured) attached to a waterfront home in New London, Connecticut, shortly after 3.30am on November 18. He died in hospital nine days later
A dispatch tape obtained by DailyMail.com revealed that he was 'barricaded' inside the shed. 'The male is barricaded inside and not answering the door,' the dispatcher says. Everyone else is outside the house. They are trying to get him to open up'
And though it only took firefighters minutes to force their way in and drag him out, it was too late to save him. 'One victim being pulled from the fire now — unresponsive,' a firefighter says just eight and a half minutes into the call. The fire was reported as under control moments later
Hsieh, 46, was originally taken to Lawrence + Memorial Hospital in New London before being airlifted to a hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where died on the day after Thanksgiving
The fire broke out around 3:30 am on November 18 at a $1.3 million waterfront home in New London, Connecticut, where Hsieh, former CEO of the giant Zappos empire and his brother had been staying
What is a whippet?
Former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh was addicted to whippets, sources told DailyMail.com.
Whippet is a slang term for inhaling laughing gas - nitrous oxide - from straight from a canister or a balloon filled with the gas.
It gives users an intense high that lasts anywhere from 20 seconds to a minute.
Whippet is a slang term for inhaling laughing gas - nitrous oxide - from straight from a canister or a balloon filled with the gas
Its usage is most common with young adults and college students.
Alarming side-effects include strokes, hallucinations, seizures, blackouts, incontinence, heart stress on the heart, chronic depression and even — in cases of prolonged use — depleted bone marrow.
An insider said: 'In recent months the nitrous oxide had become as important to Tony as his alcohol use.
'Tony encouraged partying at Zappos, he wanted his team to hang out with him.
'His heavy alcohol and drug use was known by everyone around him, but anyone that challenged him about it was cast aside.'
A spokeswoman for the office confirmed to DailyMail.com that the ruling was made before toxicology reports — not due till after the New Year — have been completed. 'But that will not change unless the medical examiner deems the tests relevant,' she said.
People close to Hsieh are now painting a dark picture of his heavy drug use which they say had escalated since he quit as CEO of the online shoe giant Zappos in the summer.
'His heavy alcohol and drug use was known by everyone around him,' the colleague said. 'Anyone that challenged him about it was cast aside.
'The talk among his former colleagues at Zappos is that Tony was likely in the shed blacked out drunk and on drugs. He was a major alcoholic and a drug addict. He was hardcore.'
Hsieh had often talked about his drug use and his love in his younger days for all night raves. Vanity Fair called him 'the consummate partier' who often took shots of Grey Goose 'just because.'
'We trust our employees to use good judgment, which 99.9 percent of them do,' he told Playboy. 'We'd rather not create policies to address the 0.1 percent at the cost of fun for the other 99.9.'
He loved going to the annual Burning Man celebration in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, where open drug use is common.
Recently though, nitrous oxide had become his drug of choice, taking it in the form of 'whippets' straight from the cartridge of a whipped cream dispenser.
'He would take dozens of them a day,' the colleague said.
'He lived a crazy, eccentric life. The drugs often made him hallucinate, he became paranoid — that could explain why he barricaded himself in,' he added.
'Tony was very fond of candles. He liked to set the atmosphere.'
'The guess is that he managed to ignite one of the nitrous oxide canisters which caused a small explosion that killed him.'
His colleague is not the only one who has talked about Hsieh's nitrous oxide abuse.
A poster calling themselves therealx said on Ycombinator that he had drunk late into the night with Hsieh in the Airstream trailer where he lived in Las Vegas.
'When the drinks were mostly finished, and the clock was past 3am, the #1 rumor would be of his drug use. At first, I thought it was standard rumors due to his laid-back nature and stature (and maybe conflated with the fact that he smoked weed legally.)
Another poster, Goodlead, added: 'This is true, I don't have all the facts, but Tony was obsessed with candles lately. First-hand account says candles + nitrous tank caused the 'fire' but it's more likely that he went too hard on the nitrous and was brain starved of oxygen, was on life support for many days braindead before his body went.
'That being said, Tony was a great guy, and did so much for countless people. Myself included,' added Goodlead. 'He will be missed. His community of clingers and simps though... they are in finger pointing mode and eating themselves alive.'
The home is owned by Rachael Brown (pictured with Hsieh), a former employee at Las Vegas-based Zappos, who, according to the company website, rose from a temporary phone representative to being a critical member of the management team
Hsieh had often talked about his drug use and his love in his younger days for all night raves. Vanity Fair called him 'the consummate partier' who often took shots of Grey Goose 'just because'
The property (shown before the fire, left, and after, right), which overlooks Long Island Sound, showed no sign of damage after the deadly blaze
The dispatcher says the fire is in 'a shed that is attached to the exterior of the house. The male is barricaded inside and not answering the door'. She adds: 'Everyone else is outside the house. They are trying to get him to open up'
Firefighters broke their way in shortly after 3:30am and pulled an unresponsive Hsieh from the property. CPR was administered at the scene
A poster calling themselves therealx said on Ycombinator that he had drunk late into the night with Hsieh in the Airstream trailer where he lived in Las Vegas. Pictured: Inside the tiny trailer Hsieh lived in, despite his $840 million fortune
Fire officials in New London have not said whether there were candles in the shed where Hsieh was critically injured. Chief Thomas Curcio did not return DailyMail.com's calls.
In interviews before Hsieh's death on Friday last week, Curcio said he has said he could not reveal the cause of the fire because it was still under investigation.
Megan Fazio, a spokeswoman for Hsieh's company later said that she would not comment on Hsieh's 'personal matters.'
'We are not providing any interviews at this time to give those who just lost a friend and family member their very necessary time and privacy to grieve, and we are not at liberty to discuss anything further than the statement we provided as the investigation of the fire as it is still ongoing, and it would be speculative to comment on matters under investigation,' Fazio added.
Hsieh's colleague told DailyMail.com that Hsieh surrounded himself with people who 'enabled' his addictions. 'There was always people around, people living in his homes.
'He lived to bring people together and even wrote a book about bringing happiness. 'So it's sad that he was all alone in a storage area when he was injured.'
Amazon owner Jeff Bezos paid tribute to a brilliant mind. 'The world lost you way too soon,' he wrote. 'Your curiosity, vision, and relentless focus on customers leave an indelible mark. You will be missed by so many, Tony. Rest In Peace'
Ivanka Trump, who previously had a shoe line sold on Zappos, was among those paying tribute to Hsieh (pictured together), who she worked with through her fashion business
'Celebrating the life while mourning the loss of my dear friend Tony Hsieh,' she wrote. 'Tony was a deeply original thinker always challenging me to reject conformity & follow my heart. Tony was driven by the mission of delivering happiness & brought joy to all who knew him'
Hsieh and his brother were staying in a $1.3 million home overlooking the point where the Thames River empties into Long Island Sound that was bought in July by his long-time employee Rachael Brown.
His traveling assistant Anthony Hebert was also with them. He told the local Fox channel that Hsieh was visiting family and his 'soulmate' in New London.
Hsieh was the son of Taiwanese immigrants, who met as graduate students at the University of Illinois. He sold his first company LinkExchange to Microsoft for $265 million when he was just 22. He then founded Venture Frogs which in 1999 invested in Zappos — named from Zapatos, Spanish for shoes — and he took over as CEO.
He sold the company to Amazon in 2009 for $1.2 billion, but continued as CEO. He was worth an estimated $840 million yet lived in an Airstream trailer in Las Vegas. He had a passion for llamas and alpacas and the area he lived in in Vegas became known as Llamapolis.
But he suddenly quit Zappos in August after leading the company for two decades and said he would relocate to Park City, Utah.
Vanity Fair once called called Hsieh'the consummate partier' who often took shots of Grey Goose 'just because.' Hsieh (right) is pictured with Joey Galon (left) and Andre Leon Talley (center) at the Zappos Couture celebration of 20 years of fashion gallery & auction in support of Las Vegas in 2014
Tony Hsieh is pictured left with Founder of Life is Beautifyl Rehan Choudhry at the 2014 pre-party for Life is Beautiful festival. Pictured right, Hsieh with Mimi Pham at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit Cockatil Party on October 8, 2014 in San Francisco
Hsieh was known as an iconoclastic boss. One of his schemes was to offer $1,000 for every year served up to a maximum of $5,000 for any employee who wanted to leave. He believed that if they no longer had the passion to want to work for him it was better to pay them to quit.
He was also known for his visionary transformation of parts of Las Vegas that had suffered in the shadow of The Strip. He lent money he had received from Amazon to help small businesses build up areas of the city.
'Tony Hsieh's vision and generosity made Las Vegas more exciting, more vibrant, and more of a community,' said Democratic Rep. Dina Titus, whose congressional district covers downtown.
And one-time venture investor Chris Sacca said in a tweet: 'Tony Hsieh might be the most original thinker I've ever been friends with. He questioned every assumption and shared everything he learned along the way. He genuinely delighted in making anyone and everyone happy.'
"colleague" - Google News
December 01, 2020 at 10:18PM
https://ift.tt/3odrVMn
Listen as firefighters describe Tony Hsieh being 'barricaded' inside shed during house fire - Daily Mail
"colleague" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2Uvr5Ps
https://ift.tt/2YviVIP
No comments:
Post a Comment