Bill Koch sold his stake for $1.1 billion, sued his brothers for more, lost, and settled after 20 years

Fred C. Koch founded the oil company that became Koch Industries in Wichita. He died in 1967 and left it to his sons, with advice to stand up for each other. His son Charles ran the company from 1967. In 1980 Charles's younger brother Bill tried to take control, failed, and was forced out. In June 1983 Bill, his brother Frederick and the Simmons family sold their 47.8 percent of the company back to it for $200 a share, about $1.1 billion. In 1985 they sued, alleging the company and its officers had hidden facts about the stock's value, and sought more than $2 billion. The case came to trial in Kansas about 13 years after the sale. After 11 weeks the jury found for the defendants. The Tenth Circuit affirmed in February 2000, except on two Texas fraud claims. Bill also brought a whistleblower suit. In December 1999 a jury found that Koch Industries had taken more oil than it paid for. Bill called it "organized crime." The company called him a disgruntled family member with a personal vendetta. In May 2001 Bill and Koch Industries settled all their disputes. The company paid the US government $25 million for taking more oil than it paid for from federal and Indian lands, and about a third of that went to Bill. Koch Industries remains privately held.