 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2018) |
The Billionaire Boys Club, or BBC, was an investing and social club organized by Joseph Henry Hunt (born Joseph Henry Gamsky)[1] in Southern California between 1983 and 1989. It was originally simply named "BBC", the initials of Bombay Bicycle Club, a restaurant Hunt had frequented as a young man in Chicago.[2] The get-rich-quick schemes the group offered to clients added up to what was essentially one big Ponzi scheme.[3]
The club enticed the sons of wealthy families from the Harvard School for Boys (now Harvard-Westlake School; not affiliated with Harvard University) in the Los Angeles area with get-rich-quick schemes. Due to the reputation of the organization for being composed of young, inexperienced men from moneyed families, it was jokingly referred to as the "Billionaire Boys' Club".[4] Hunt himself came from a single-parent family in the lower-middle-class suburb of Van Nuys, and was able to attend the Harvard School only with the help of scholarships.
In 1984, Hunt was arrested for murdering Ron Levin, the group's main investor and himself a con artist, and Hedayat Eslaminia, the father of one of the club's members.[5]
The story was recounted in a 1987 miniseries and a 2018 film.
- ^ Shaw, Daniel (February 7, 1987). "SAGA OF FAST-TRACK GROUP TOLD AT TRIAL". The Washington Post.
- ^ Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice – Episode "Billionaire Boys Club"
- ^ Helling, Steve (August 13, 2016). "Fast Cars, Armani Suits, Pretty Women: How the 'Billionaire Boys Club' Led to Murder". People. New York City. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
- ^ Elias, Paul (October 22, 2018). "Billionaire Boys Club's Joe Hunt seeks cut in life sentence". Associated Press. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
- ^ Stannard, Matthew B. (November 7, 2000). "Charges In Famed Death Dropped / Victim's son accused in 'billionaire' slaying". San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco, California. Retrieved December 15, 2018.