Money Crimes with Nicole Lapin - MURDER: The Billionaire Boys Club Pt. 2

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

As the members of the Billionaire Boys Club scrambled for funds, they resorted to violence to get the money they needed. But what seemed like the perfect crime was full of holes. And it was only a matter of time until they were caught. For more content, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @crimehouse. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Crime House. their investments or trying too hard to time the market just right. But in the case of Joe Hunt and the Billionaire Boys Club, they took it to a whole new level. They were in a massive financial hole and Joe was willing to do anything to get out of it, even if it meant committing murder. As the saying goes, those who don't understand history are doomed to repeat it. That's especially true when it comes to money. If you want to make the right decisions when it comes to managing your assets, you need to know what mistakes to avoid and how to spot a trap. This is Money Crimes, a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. I'm your host, Nicole Lappin. Every Thursday, I'll be telling you the story of a famous financial crime

and giving you advice on how to avoid becoming a victim yourself. This is the second and final episode on Joe Hunt and the Billionaire Boys Club, a social club slash investment group based in Los Angeles that conned people out of millions of dollars in the early 1980s and in two tragic instances, committed murder. Last time, I introduced you to Joe Hunt, the founder of the Billionaire Boys Club. I went through how the group was formed, how it targeted vulnerable investors, and how it started to fall apart. In this episode, I'll focus on the club's downfall and the increasingly desperate steps

Joe Hunt and his friends took to strike it rich by any means necessary. Take back your free time with PC Express Online grocery delivery and pickup. Get in-store promos, PC Optimum points, and more free time. And still get groceries. Shop now at pcexpress.ca. Prime Big Deal Days is coming October 8th and 9th. Woohoo! Which can lead to involuntary deal squeals,

like the infamous deal on a new massager squeal. Save big on Prime Big Deal Days, October 8th and 9th. Joe Hunt and his friends in the Billionaire Boys Club were willing to lie, cheat, and steal in order to make money. And apparently, Joe was even willing to kill. In the spring of 1984, Joe made it his personal mission to get revenge on Ron Levin, a notorious Beverly Hills con man. Over the past year or so, Ron had thoroughly embarrassed Joe by making him big promises and then backing out of them at the very last second. As a result, the billionaire boys club was nearly bankrupt and their lavish lifestyle was at risk. And Joe was not about to let that happen. By June of 1984, Joe had concocted a plan and told his buddy Dean Carney all about it. Joe would go over to Ron's,

pretending he owed the mafia a ton of money and he could only pay them back if Ron helped him out. To make it seem more real, the club's head of security, Jim Graham, would show up and pretend to be from the gang Joe owed money to and threaten to hurt both of them. Joe would promise Ron that it would all be okay as long as he signed a check for five million dollars. Then, once he did, they'd kill him. It was a drastic step to take, and before Joe literally pulled the trigger on it, he had one more card to play. Over the past few years, Joe had managed to lure in a number of investors by making it seem like he was delivering huge returns on the commodities market. In reality, he was constantly kicking the can down the road by giving them money he had just taken from other investors

in a classic Ponzi scheme. And before Joe did anything drastic, he wanted to see if it would work again. At the end of May, Joe wrote a letter to his investors saying things were going so well, he was running out of bandwidth to take on any more investments. They had one more month to add money to their accounts. After that, Joe wouldn't be taking on any additional funds. Okay, so how could anyone actually believe that? Some firms do stop taking people's money, but it's unlikely that they'd do it if things were going as well as Joe claimed. But Joe was smart. He put a ticking clock on it, and his investors had to think fast.

Most of us would like to think we're smart enough to see past this kind of thing. But if you believed you were making a 200% profit on your investments every year, like Joe's investors did, wouldn't you do everything you could to keep it going? But we can learn from their mistakes. If you're ever presented with a give us your money now before it's too late kind of thing, obviously don't fall for it. Remember, you can't predict the market. The saying time in the market beats timing the market is really good advice. But really, when it comes to long-term investing, a few days or weeks doesn't make a difference. It's better to do dollar cost averaging and spread out your investments over time instead of doing it all

at once. So if you're being pressured to invest in something right now, that is a big red flag. Do your due diligence. Take your time. Never be compulsive with your money, especially when you're dealing with a lot of it. Unfortunately for Joe, a lot of his investors hit the panic button. The plan brought hundreds of thousands of dollars into the club's coffers. But it still wasn't enough. Remember, the club's coffers. But it still wasn't enough. Remember, the club's lawyer had discovered that they were spending at least $70,000 a month to keep up its members' lavish lifestyles. Assuming Joe wanted to at least try investing

some of that money in the commodities market, he and the billionaire boys' club would be back to square one before too long. If he really wanted to keep it going, he needed way, way more. So at the same time Joe was fooling his investors, he decided it was finally time to put the plan to kill Ron Levin into motion. On the night of June 6th, 1984, Joe told Dean Carney to go see a movie. And if anyone asked, Joe was with them.

But then, according to Dean, Joe actually headed over to Ron's. The plan seemed to go off without a hitch. With Jim Graham's help, Joe forced Ron to sign a check for $1.5 million. Then they killed him, wrapped the body in a duvet, and buried it in a pit in Soledad Canyon out in the Californian desert, the same place Joe liked to take his friends on hunting trips. The big question now was, would they get away with it? Well, the next morning, two of Ron's friends went over to his house to say hi, but Ron wasn't home and his alarm was off, which never happened. The young men went inside and found two

half-eaten salads. So if Ron did leave, it had been in a hurry, but none of his stuff was gone. And his friends didn't think he'd gone somewhere because anytime Ron went out, he took his address book with him. And the final nail in the coffin was that there was a green comforter on his bed, but Ron always used a white one. His friends thought something was definitely up and they went to the police. But for the moment, the cops wouldn't do anything. At least 48 hours had to go by before they could declare a person missing. And Ron wasn't exactly known as being an upstanding citizen. One of his friends who was quoted in the book, The Price of Experience, remembered a Beverly Hills PD detective telling him that unless there was blood on the walls, there was no reason to suspect murder.

Meanwhile, Joe was trying to cash the $1.5 million check he'd forced Ron to write him. But the Swiss bank the account belonged to refused to hand over the funds. It turned out that Ron had gotten the best of Joe one last time. Because according to Jim, the bank had very specific instructions to only accept checks that were signed in a very specific area. So when they saw that the check Joe was trying to cash had been signed on the regular signature line, they knew it wasn't legit. Or at least that's what Jim was saying.

Either way, Joe's latest get-rich-quick scheme had been thwarted and the other members of the billionaire boys club were getting antsy. Of course, they had no idea how Joe had gotten that check, just that there was some problem accessing the funds. The only people who knew what was really going on were Jim Graham, Dean Carney, and the club's other founding member, Ben Dostey. And so Joe decided to do something drastic. Tell the truth. On June 24th, Joe called a meeting with his most trusted friends in the Billionaire Boys Club. All told, there were 10 people, including Joe, Jim, Dean, and Ben.

Joe admitted to them that the club's accounts were practically empty. But before he told them anything else, he said they'd have one last chance to leave. When they all decided to stay, Joe dropped the hammer. He and Jim Graham had killed Ron Levin. And none of them seemed to care. Sure, there was a moment of shock, but they didn't dwell on the subject for long. Joe convinced all of the guys that Ron had gotten what he deserved for cheating them. He didn't say how he did it, but he promised them it was the perfect crime. So long as they all stayed quiet, they'd never get caught. That seemed to be enough for the guys, and if it wasn't, Joe promised to punish them severely. But even so, Joe knew their loyalty would only last so long. If he couldn't deliver more money, and soon, he could find himself in a whole world of trouble.

But Joe wasn't interested in collecting chunks of change here and there from gullible investors or trying his luck again on the commodities market. He'd gotten this close to getting what he wanted by killing Ron Levin. So when another opportunity to strong arm himself into loads of cash came his way again, he didn't hesitate. What's the feeling of fall? It's finally catching the sunrise. And not because you woke up early. No, you woke up nice and late.

And you know what? The sun waited. Then you went and got what you love from Starbucks. The new pecan crunch oat latte and new baked apple croissant. And enjoyed that warm apple filling and those nutty flavors with rich brown buttery notes while the sun rose just for you. That's the feeling of fall. And it's only at Starbucks. Around the same time Joe Hunt killed Ron Levin, he met a young man named Reza Eslamania.

Like a lot of other guys in the billionaire boys club, 23-year-old Reza came from a lot of money and didn't have much of a work ethic. His father, Hedayat, was a former high-level Iranian government official, and after a regime change, the family had fled to America with over $30 million in their pockets. Or at least that's what Reza said. They settled in the hills around San Francisco, and Hedion pretty much immediately began using opium and neglecting his kids. By the time Reza was 12, he was pretty much given the run of their massive estate with zero supervision. And without any direction from his dad, Reza didn't know what to do with himself.

Back in Iran, Reza was being groomed for big things, maybe even becoming prime minister someday. But now he was just another immigrant kid who didn't fit in at school. To fill the void in his life, Reza turned their mansion into a party house, and it wasn't too long before he got into drugs like marijuana, cocaine, and LSD. That lack of direction followed Reza after high school, and after a few stints in rehab and run-ins with the law, he found himself in LA working a sales job for an industrial flooring company. By chance, one of his friends was involved with the Billionaire Boys Club. Sometime in June of 1984, that friend asked Reza

to drop off some papers at the group's office. While he was there, he met Joe Hunt's good pal, Ben Dostey. Reza desperately wanted to join the club, and he told Ben all about his father's wealth and connections in the Middle East. Ben passed his info along to Joe, who agreed that Reza was a good fit, especially if they could get their hands on his family's fortune. But Joe knew better than to suggest they should kill Reza's father, even though there wasn't any love lost between them. Joe had learned a few key lessons from his experience with Ron Levin, mainly that they needed him alive, or at least until the money went through.

With Reza's approval, they hatched a plan. Joe, Jim Graham, Dean Carney, Ben Dosti, and Reza would abduct Hediot from his condo near San Francisco. They'd hide him in a house somewhere in Los Angeles, then force him to transfer all of his assets to Reza. But there was one piece of information Joe withheld from Reza. Once everything was properly signed over, they would kill his dad. And on the morning of July 29th, 1984, the plan went into action. The guys headed up to the Bay Area and spent the night in a motel. The next morning, they rented a U-Haul truck and drove over to Hediot's condo. Everything went according to plan. After a bit of a struggle, Joe, Jim, and Ben were able to subdue Reza's father.

Then they stuffed him into a large trunk, threw it in the back of the U-Haul, and began the long drive back down to Los Angeles. But along the way, something went horribly wrong. Hediot had been making a lot of noise from the trunk. The boys were worried that someone would hear him, so they taped over the holes they'd made for air. Of course, that created an entirely new problem. It wasn't long before Hediot stopped making noise at all. And when they pulled over to check on him, he was dead. This time, the police were more willing to investigate this disappearance than they were

with Ron Levin. Hediat had a live-in girlfriend, and she got suspicious when her boyfriend was nowhere to be found. But his wallet and keys were still at the apartment. The police agreed that foul play seemed likely, but because of Hediat's troubles back in Iran, they thought maybe he'd been kidnapped by political enemies. So for the time being, Joe and his friends were in the clear. Of course, getting a hold of Hediat's assets would be tricky, but this time, they had something they'd been missing when Joe killed Ron Levin. Reza. As Hediat's eldest son, Reza was expected to take charge until his father was located.

That included managing his fortune. And in order to do that, he had to be approved for a conservatorship. All right, so what does this all mean? You may have heard the term conservatorship before. Think about Britney Spears. When someone isn't able to properly manage their finances or other aspects of their lives, their loved ones can apply for a conservatorship. In Britney's case, the conservatorship had to do with mental health challenges. But a lot of times, conservatorships are for people with mental health challenges. But a lot of times conservatorships are for people with cognitive diseases like Alzheimer's or dementia, or if the person is permanently disabled. Reza's case was a little different. If his dad really had been kidnapped

by enemies, Reza needed the money to keep the investigation going. He also needed to keep an eye on the family fortune. Of course, it was Reza who had kidnapped and killed his dad. And I know what you're thinking. How can I protect my money if someone is trying to take it? Well, luckily, the bar for a conservatorship is pretty high. It's a lengthy process, and a lot of proof is needed to show that you are not able to take care of your own money. So really, you shouldn't be concerned. But in the case of Hediyat Islamania, he wasn't around to fight back against his son. And considering the urgent nature of his supposed disappearance, the court was happy to quickly grant Reza's request, especially when Reza presented a forged document saying that he had the power of attorney over Hediot's affairs. He now had full control over his father's assets.

There was only one problem. Reza had no idea how to get a hold of them, but he was pretty sure that his dad had kept a lot of money with Swiss banks. After the debacle with Ron Levin's check, Joe decided that Reza needed to deal with them face to face. So he sent Reza and Ben Dosti to Europe to make sure they got the money. They would have to move fast, though. Heddyat's girlfriend didn't think he'd been kidnapped. She told the police about a strange encounter she'd had with Reza in the aftermath of his father's disappearance, where his main concern had seemed to be about the money, not his father's well-being. If his dad had really been kidnapped by vengeful political enemies,

it seemed to her that Reza should be more worried. It was clear that something wasn't right. The authorities in San Francisco had passed the case on to the FBI, and they were very curious to learn more about the billionaire boys club because someone had snitched on them. After killing Hediot, Jim Graham had let it slip to the club's lawyer, Jerry Eisenberg, about what had happened. Remember, Jerry was the one who figured out that Joe and his pals were spending exorbitant amounts of money on themselves. So he was already suspicious of the club. And although he didn't know what had happened to Ron Levin, he believed that Jim was telling the truth about Reza's father.

So he called up the FBI and told them he wanted to talk. It wasn't enough to make an arrest just yet, but they told him to keep his eyes and ears open for the time being. And the FBI wasn't the only law enforcement agency sniffing around the club. The Beverly Hills Police Department was finally checking into the disappearance of Ron Levin, and on August 16th, the same day Reza was granted his conservatorship, a detective named Les Zoller was sent to search Ron's house. Ron's dad walked Detective Zoller through the duplex, and everything seemed to be in order. Offhandedly, Mr. Levin gave him a piece of paper he'd found on Ron's desk. He said he didn't know

what to make of it. But as soon as Detective Zoller saw what was written on it, he knew it was important. It read, to do, close blinds, tape mouth, handcuff, kill dog. And next to it, there was a supposed contract between Ron and Joe Hunt. Things were not looking good for Joe, and they were about to get worse, because word had spread within the club about what Joe had done to Ron Levin and Hedyat Islamania. And when it became pretty obvious that the murders weren't going to stay a secret for much longer, it turned into a real Lord of the Flies situation. As loyal as these guys were to Joe, they weren't prepared to go to jail for him. Some of them started stealing documents and trying to find ways to cooperate with the authorities. It was clear the tides had turned. It was every man for himself.

And Joe wasn't afraid to fight back. He was well aware of the revolt going on within the Billionaire Boys Club. He kicked out anyone he considered disloyal and remained confident that the police would never be able to get real proof against him. But things were not going Joe's way. Over in Europe, Reza and Ben had managed to locate one of Hedayat's Swiss bank accounts. But the day they were scheduled to withdraw the funds, the authorities in San Francisco convinced the bank to deny the transaction. While all of this was going on, Les Zoller and the Beverly Hills Police Department were closing in on Joe too. With so many members of the billionaire boys club scrambling to save themselves, there was no shortage of evidence, no matter how untouchable Joe thought he was. On October 22nd, 1984, Joe and Jim Graham were both arrested

and charged with the murder of Ron Levin. Even still, Joe was certain he would get away with it. In his mind, he'd planned the perfect crime. But there was one thing he didn't factor in. The betrayal of his closest friend. This episode is brought to you by Coca-Cola Creations. You love the taste of Coca-Cola and love the cookie crunch of Oreos.

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Mondelez International Group. Unbeknownst to Joe Hunt, his most loyal, trusted friend had turned on him. In the weeks since Hediyat Islamania's death, Dean Carney had begun to distance himself from Joe and the Billionaire Boys Club. He just couldn't stomach the guilt of what they had done. At first, Dean wasn't a participant in the mad scramble to dig up dirt on Joe and the club. He started small, like moving out of the apartment he shared with Joe. But by the time Joe was charged with Ron Levin's murder, Dean had had enough, and he probably also realized that if he didn't do something soon, he would get arrested too. In exchange for immunity, Dean agreed to tell the authorities everything he knew. About a month after Joe was arrested, Dean met with investigators on both murder cases and shared all the details about what happened to Ron Levin and Hedayat Eslamania. And while Dean didn't know what Joe and Jim Graham had done with Ron's body,

he could show Detective Zoller where they had dumped Reza Eslamania's father. The morning of November 30th, 1984, Dean and Detective Zoller drove out to the remote wilds of Soledad Canyon. After driving for a while, Dean had Zoller turn onto a winding dirt road that led into the high desert. Eventually, he had Zoller stop into a turnout on the side of the road alongside a steep drop-off into the canyon below. Zoller scrambled down the hill, and sure enough, he found what they had come out there for. The remains of Hediyat, Eslamania. When Reza and Ben Dosti got back from their unsuccessful trip to Europe, they realized they were in hot water. They did their best to lie low, but it was only a matter of time until they were caught. It took a few months,

but they were both arrested in August of 1985. At this point, things were not looking good for Joe. He was facing two separate murder trials, and there was plenty of evidence against him. But he wasn't going down without a fight. When Joe's trial for the murder of Ron Levin finally began in February of 1987, his lawyers argued that Ron wasn't really dead. They said that Ron had a lot of people coming after him, and in order to make a clean getaway, he'd faked his death and framed Joe and Jim Graham. Pretty wild stuff, right? But from a practical point of view, is it even possible?

Let's take the faking your own death out of the equation and just say you wanted to start your financial life over from scratch. It's not easy. If you declare bankruptcy, your credit score will plummet. It will become extremely difficult to take out a loan, and anything you are approved for will have ridiculous interest rates. If you want to move your money around and start over elsewhere, that's also tough. Forensic accountants can track down just about any financial transaction. Living off cash isn't easy either. Otherwise, criminals wouldn't launder money. The idea of leaving it all behind and living on a beach

somewhere sounds really nice, but it's more trouble than it's actually worth. And I highly doubt that's what Ron Levin tried to do. But surprisingly, Joe's lawyers managed to make a decent argument that Ron was alive and kicking. There was a young woman in Tucson, Arizona, who testified that she had seen Ron and a boyfriend filling up at a gas station two years earlier, right after authorities claimed he'd been murdered. The encounter was especially memorable. The man she'd seen was immaculately dressed, with perfectly styled hair and a beautiful classic car.

At the time, she had no idea who this guy was. But when she read an article in Esquire magazine about Joe's trial, she was positive it had been Ron Levin. Maybe he'd pulled off the ultimate con and managed to perfectly fake his death while restarting his life of luxury in Arizona. It was a compelling story. But in the end, the jury was convinced that it wasn't anything more than that. A story. They found Joe guilty of first-degree murder,

and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. And he still had another murder trial to go through. By the time Joe's trial for the murder of Hedyat Eslamania got started, Reza and Ben had already been found guilty. So things were definitely not looking good for Joe. And for some reason, he decided to represent himself. Unbelievably, it worked. Joe argued in court that Dean had been the one to kill Reza's father. It's hard to say if the jury bought it or not,

but they couldn't unanimously agree on a verdict. In the end, the decision came back 8-4 in favor of acquittal. That meant a hung jury and that Joe would need to stand trial again. But in the end, the prosecutors didn't think they could make much more of the case. So they dropped the charges. Ultimately, Reza got his conviction overturned and Ben's sentence was reduced as well. And Jim Graham only spent three and a half years in prison. Of course, none of that changed the fact that Joe was still facing life behind bars for the murder of Ron Levin. Since then,

Joe has appealed his sentence multiple times. His last attempt was in 2018 when he asked the California governor to commute his sentence. It was unsuccessful. Joe Hunt's obsession with making money ruined so many people's lives. His confidence and charm convinced the young men in the billionaire boys club that they could have it all without having to do any real work. Of course, it all turned out to be an illusion. Joe and his friends swindled their investors out of huge sums of cash, money that they never fully recovered. And ultimately, two men lost their lives. Before we wrap up our story on Joe Hunt and the Billionaire Boys Club,

I'm going to leave you with one final takeaway. When it comes to your money, desperate times do not call for desperate measures. The market ebbs and flows, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. When things go downhill, you might look for a way to quickly dig yourself out. Obviously, none of us would turn to kidnapping or murder to make a quick buck, but there will always be get-rich-quick schemes and quote-unquote foolproof investment strategies. And as nice as these opportunities sound, it's important to stay alert. Always do your research and don't sign anything without knowing what you're getting into. Remember, if someone is telling you something that seems too good to be true, it probably is. thank you so much for listening i'm your host nicole lappen come back next time as i take you through another wild story and offer you some advice along the way money crimes is a crime

house original powered by pave studios join me every every Thursday for a new episode. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media, at Crime House on Instagram, at Crime House Studios on TikTok, and at Crime House Media on X. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow Money Crimes wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes all the difference. Money Crimes is hosted by me, Nicole Lapin, and is a Crime House original powered by Pave Studios. It is executive produced by Max Cutler. This episode of Money Crimes was produced

and directed by Ron Shapiro, written and developed by Alex Benidon, fact-checked by Claire Cronin, and included production assistance from Sarah Carroll.