Late last year, BRDR Properties LLC made waves in the small rural town of Gerlach, the gateway community to the Black Rock Desert and Burning Man.

The company was seeking special use permits that included a request to perform explosives testing at the Iveson Ranch, a 320-acre property it had purchased the year before. The ranch is located about 11 miles from the Black Rock Playa, site of the annual counterculture Burning Man celebration, and 6 miles from the iconic Fly Geyser.

What made the issue more compelling to residents wasn’t just the sale. 

It was the secrecy surrounding BRDR LLC.

Former military pilot Mike Arth, who has taken over as general manager of Iveson Ranch since its purchase, has declined to reveal details about the company’s mission or ownership, speaking in public meetings only in broad terms.

Arth told Gerlach community members in November that the company wants “to tell our story on our terms.”

“You’re all going to know in a couple of years,” he added, only mentioning it was an “early-stage startup” and that the ranch will serve as a “great tinker space for engineers.” Arth has repeatedly declined to talk to media outlets, including The Nevada Independent.

Some Gerlach residents called the secrecy “gross” and “disingenuous.” Others backed the project at an ensuing Washoe County Planning Commission meeting, but several months later, Gerlach resident Dave Cooper told The Indy that the “vast majority” of the community still doesn’t want to see the project.

“Everybody’s a little skeptical,” he said. 

Washoe County has since approved the special use permits, which outline extensive conditions the company must meet before it can begin operations. 

Little additional information has been divulged about the owners of the company. 

But documents filed in Nevada and California and further research into BRDR LLC indicate ties to billionaire Eric Schmidt, who served as Google’s CEO from 2001 to 2011 and as the company’s executive chairman until 2017. Schmidt is one of the wealthiest people in the world, with a history of supporting scientific endeavors.

Schmidt also has a history of attending Burning Man — his affinity for the counter cultural festival played a key role in him getting the Google CEO position — making him familiar with the Gerlach area. 

“It’s well documented that I go to Burning Man,” he told The Guardian in 2016. “The future’s driven by people with an alternative world view. You never know where you’ll find ideas.”

Emails to the Schmidt Family Foundation and a media contact for Schmidt were not returned.

The Nevada Independent partnered with Sunlight Research Center to learn more about BRDR, Schmidt and possible connections between the two. 

Here’s what we found. 

Clues to a secretive company

BRDR has taken pains to keep its secrecy. It has no website or social media presence, and its spokesperson, Arth, regularly declines to speak to the media.

A review of business filings show that BRDR Properties is a Delaware limited liability company (LLC) incorporated in June 2024. It registered as a foreign limited liability company in Nevada that same year. The only member listed in the company’s Nevada Secretary of State Office’s registration is BRDR Property Holdings LLC, a Delaware corporation formed that year.

Delaware (and Nevada) are known for the ease with which they allow companies to set up anonymous LLCs — about 70 percent of all companies set up in Delaware are LLCs, according to University of Chicago adjunct professor Hal Weitzman, who penned a book on the subject. 

BRDR purchased Iveson Ranch from Sylvia Fascio, the former director of Fascio Enterprises. The Nevada secretary of state revoked the company’s corporate status in 2024 for failing to submit a required annual report. The ranch sold just two weeks prior to the revocation for $2.85 million, according to filings with Nevada’s secretary of state.

In a Facebook post a year before the property’s sale, Roxy DePlaya, who identified herself as the then-onsite ranch manager, wrote that Fascio had moved off the ranch and to an “active community” in Reno. 

Responding to a call from The Nevada Independent, DePlaya texted back, “As I’m not authorized to speak to the media, I’m putting you in touch with Mike Arth.”

Who is Mike Arth?

Arth lives in Reno and has a background in government, business and the military. He operates a property management company that is registered in Colorado, but lists its principal office in Reno. 

Arth has served as BRDR’s point of contact for the Washoe County Planning Commission and in other public meetings. 

But when BRDR submitted development permit applications for Iveson Ranch with the county, one seeking to build employee housing and an airstrip and the other for explosive testing, the application was signed by James Burdette Parker — a New York real estate attorney who focuses on high-end luxury properties. 

Parker and Schmidt appear to be cousins, according to a note Parker left on an online obituary for Eleanor Schmidt, the late mother of former Google head Eric Schmidt.

“My beloved Aunt Eleanor: May she have eternal peace as we cherish her memory. James Burdette Parker.”

Parker’s signature is also found on all California secretary of state filings for two companies involved with Project Eagle, a Schmidt-backed venture and military tech startup that produces drone interceptor systems that have been deployed in Ukraine and Poland against Russian autonomous aircraft.

Project Eagle’s operations are split across multiple companies, including Swift Beat LLC and Aurelian Industries LLC; Parker’s name appears on filings for both.

Parker could not be reached for comment. 

Elroy Air connections

Arth also has served on the advisory board for Elroy Air, Inc., a Delaware corporation focused on drone-based shipping and logistics. Elroy Air’s website states that Arth currently works at an undisclosed “stealth startup.” 

Also serving on Elroy Air’s advisory board is H.R. McMaster, former national security adviser under President Donald Trump. 

McMaster has served on the board of America’s Frontier Fund, a Delaware-incorporated nonprofit investment fund focusing on military technologies. Schmidt was an initial investor in that company, which was  co-founded by one of the people involved in Schmidt’s Project Eagle.

McMaster’s former chief of staff is the CEO of a technology research and investment firm formed by Schmidt that received $22 million in funding from one of Schmidt’s philanthropic foundations.

McMaster could not be reached for comment. 

BRDR purchases second Washoe County property 

Last year, BRDR purchased a second property not far from Iveson Ranch. The second parcel and Iveson Ranch are separated by a 500-foot-wide swath of Bureau of Land Management land. 

The second property, also spanning 320 acres but appearing less developed, was formerly owned by tech guru Troy Straszheim, who worked as a roboticist for Google, including with the company’s “Moonshot Factory.” The Moonshot Factory describes itself as creating “radical technologies to help solve some of the world’s hardest problems.” 

Straszheim’s time at Google overlapped with Schmidt’s tenure as CEO. Google acquired Straszheim’s company, Industrial Perception, in late 2013. 

Straszheim, who could not be reached for comment, sold his property to BRDR in July for $650,000 according to county records. 

“We’re familiar with the purchase, but we’ve not heard anything that it’s going to be part of this project, and we haven’t received any submittals related to that property yet,” Chris Bronczyk, senior planner for Washoe County, told The Indy. “They would have to go through the same process again to get everything allowed on that site as well.” 

Media requests denied

Arth has repeatedly declined to talk with The Indy.

In November, Arth, in response to a text from The Indy, wrote “Happy to chat,” before suggesting various days for a call. Arth then did not reply to further texts.

The following week, in response to an email from The Indy, Arth wrote, “We’re doing no press engagements at this time.”

The Indy made additional requests for an interview with Arth last month. He said in a text the company still isn’t “doing any media on this project at this time. I don’t see that changing any time soon.” 

Research and data visualizations by Michael Nolan of MuckRock’s Sunlight Research Desk.