Jailed Club Founder Petitions for Christmas Release

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The jailed founder of a Montana club for the ultra-rich has filed an emergency petition with a federal court asking for his release ahead of Christmas.

Yellowstone Club developer Tim Blixseth has spent more than eight months in a Montana jail under orders from U.S. District Judge Sam Haddon.

Three prior release petitions from Blixseth have been turned down by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Creditors from the club's 2008 bankruptcy say Blixseth took $286 million from the private ski and golf resort near Big Sky, Montana for his personal use.

In April, Haddon found Blixseth in contempt of court, for not fully accounting for $13.8 million from the 2011 sale of a luxury property in Mexico in defiance of a court order.