BILLINGS, Mont. — Authorities from three states are seeking to force former billionaire Tim Blixseth into an involuntary bankruptcy to extract tens of millions of dollars in unpaid taxes he allegedly stashed in Nevada.

Blixseth on Wednesday rejected the states’ actions as based largely on “bogus” claims from Montana, where he developed the ultra-exclusive Yellowstone Club.

Officials there are seeking almost $57 million from the real estate baron, who now resides in Washington.

Blixseth also owes $1.1 million in Idaho income taxes and almost $1 million in California, according to a petition filed Tuesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Nevada.

A court-issued summons gives Blixseth 21 days to respond. He told The Associated Press he will fight the petition and described it as politically motivated.

That charge was rejected as “preposterous” by Montana tax department chief Dan Bucks.

Blixseth, 60, built his early fortune in the timber industry, then rose to celebrity-page status with his founding of the Yellowstone Club. The winter playground for the rich in the Madison mountains near Big Sky includes Bill Gates, Dan Quayle and others from the country’s elite among its members.

Just before the resort’s 2008 bankruptcy, Blixseth passed control to ex-wife Edra Blixseth as part of their divorce settlement.

Within days of giving up the club he started transferring his assets to a Nevada trust, Desert Ranch LLLP. He has said the trust was set up to benefit members of his family.

Creditors say he tricked his former spouse into a dubious deal that let him make off with $286 million — money originally billed as a loan to the club.

Forbes once pegged Tim Blixseth’s value at $1.3 billion. Court documents now put the figure at roughly $230 million.

On Wednesday, Blixseth acknowledged owing about $1.3 million in income taxes for Idaho and California. He said he intends to pay those debts.

But he said Montana’s claim was concocted in a scheme by Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer in collusion with Dan Bucks and the current owners of the Yellowstone Club.