New Gig
In Idaho, Hutcheson struck out into a new business. In November 2010, he founded a company called Green Valley Holdings LLC and bid $40 million for Tamarack Resort, a ski area near McCall, Idaho. In December 2007, Tamarack had defaulted on a $250 million loan arranged by Credit Suisse Group AG. The founders sought bankruptcy protection.
Hutcheson made his wife, Annette, a manager in Green Valley, according to a December filing with the Idaho Secretary of State's office.
Tamarack was designed to be one of the splashiest resorts in Idaho's history. Tennis champions Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf planned to build a Fairmont hotel there. Luxury homes dot the golf course and the forests along the ski lifts.
Avenue, Fortress
Hutcheson said he had big money behind his Tamarack bid. In an e-mail dated July 27, Hutcheson told colleagues at Green Valley that Avenue Capital Group, the hedge fund led by Marc Lasry, and Fortress Investment Group LLC, both in New York, planned to put in $50 million each.
"Avenue Capital is frequently approached on an unsolicited basis by parties proposing investment opportunities," Todd Fogarty, a spokesman for Avenue at Kekst & Co. in New York, said in an e-mail. "Such an approach was made by Mr. Hutcheson regarding Tamarack, but we did not engage substantively beyond that point."
"Fortress has not extended financing or made an investment as asserted by Mr. Hutcheson," Fortress spokesman Gordon Runte said in an e-mail.
Green Valley got a piece of Tamarack, paying $3 million for the mortgage note on the golf course in late 2010, according to a person familiar with the purchase. Hutcheson planned to foreclose and take possession of the property, the person said.
Bad Checks