A lawyer for the $125,000 benefactor to erstwhile car king Denny Hecker filed a 10-page legal memo seeking to keep the person's identity a public secret, according to a court document released Thursday.
The benefactor provided Hecker with the money to replenish his 401(k) account earlier this year. Hecker took money from the 401(k) account last year as he was beginning his divorce from fourth wife, Tamitha Hecker. Hennepin County District Judge Jay Quam determined that Hecker had illegally raided the account and threatened him with jail if he failed to repay the account. Hecker came up with the money at the last minute through a donation from someone who has not been publicly named.
Hecker avoided jail at that time. He landed in jail last week for three days after repeated failures to make support payments to Tamitha Hecker and his second wife, Sandra Hecker. Quam had him handcuffed and taken to jail for civil contempt.
The judge has repeatedly asked Hecker for an accounting of his financial situation -- a demand the car dealer has failed to fulfill. The judge is trying to determine whether Hecker can afford to pay his former wives or whether he's as broke as he claims.
As part of the disclosure, Quam wants to know where the $125,000 came from.
The benefactor's lawyer, Alan Eidsness, said the donor would be happy to provide information to the judge and lawyers for Hecker's former wives, but doesn't want to become part of the media swirl surrounding Hecker's divorce, bankruptcy and criminal trials.
He identifies the person throughout the memo as "benefactor," never conferring details or even gender.
Eidsness argues that the origins of the $125,000 are part of the fact-gathering process leading up to a civil case and that the public has no right of access to such pretrial exchanges of information.
