Texas billionaire Charles Wyly, a co-founder of Michaels, a chain of arts-and-crafts stores that was sold in 2006, was killed in a car crash near Aspen, Colo., over the weekend, police said on Monday.

Wyly, 77, died at an Aspen-area hospital after his Porsche was struck by another vehicle as he was turning left off a state highway, Colorado State Troop Nate Reid told Reuters.

"It looks like he didn't yield," Reid said.

Wyly was facing a lawsuit by federal securities regulators who, after a six-year probe, accused him and his brother, Samuel, of creating a sham web of offshore trusts in the Isle of Man and Cayman Islands to conceal 13 years of stock sales in four companies they founded or where they served as directors.

The SEC said the Wylys hid the sales to eliminate the risk a disclosure would have on the market, therefore causing share prices to fall while they were selling.

In March, the brothers lost a bid to have the lawsuit dismissed.

SEC Lawsuit Lawsuit Lawsuit