BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana's bid to force ultra-luxury resort founder Tim Blixseth into bankruptcy and make him come up with up $57 million in purported back taxes has been resurrected by an appeals court ruling in the case.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a lower court ruling Monday and said Nevada is the proper venue for the case.

Blixseth, a one-time billionaire who lives in Washington state, is believed to have most of his assets in a Nevada-based trust.

He promised an appeal on Tuesday.

The ruling comes after a Dec. 5 order that Blixseth pay $41 million to creditors from the Yellowstone Club, the private ski resort he founded near Big Sky.

Beginning in 2005, Blixseth diverted most of a $375 million loan to the club to himself and then-wife Edra Blixseth. They used the money to buy up luxury estates around the world, a pair of jets, cars, furniture, art and jewelry.

When the resort started to founder, Tim Blixseth turned it over to Edra Blixseth during their 2008 divorce and took most of their remaining assets. The Yellowstone Club went bankrupt months later. It was later sold and is now under new ownership.

Montana tax authorities contend the money Blixseth got out of the 2005 loan, from banking giant Credit Suisse, was taxable. They've tried for more than two years to get him to pay up. A separate proceeding to get the money is pending before the Montana Tax Appeals Board.

Tim Blixseth counters that the state's claim is bogus and politically motivated by detractors, including Gov. Brian Schwietzer, and claims the Internal Revenue Service conducted a two-year audit into the loan and ruled it was legitimate. Continued...