The high-society Ponzi scheme that ended in double murder

Entertainment · Published 20 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In the 1980s, a group of wealthy, inexperienced young men in Southern California formed an investing club that promised quick riches. What began as a social circle for the elite quickly spiraled into a violent web of fraud, kidnapping, and two murders that shocked the nation.

Between 1983 and 1989, Joseph Henry Hunt coordinated the Billionaire Boys Club (BBC), which sought out affluent Harvard School for Boys offspring. While the members were often inexperienced, they used their social standing to lure investors into a Ponzi scheme. The club's primary purpose was to fund the members' lavish lifestyles, using contributed money to maintain their status while offering fraudulent get-rich-quick schemes to clients.

In 1984, the group's actions became fatal as Hunt faced charges for killing Ron Levin, a peer in fraud who supposedly tricked the BBC of more than $4 million. Because no corpse was located, Hunt claimed that Levin staged his own demise to evade an ongoing FBI inquiry. Additionally, members were charged with the murder of Hedayat Eslaminia. The group allegedly targeted him to acquire his fortune, which was falsely rumored to be $35 million, though he was actually nearly penniless.

The legal fallout was complex. Dean Karny, the club's second-in-command, turned state's evidence to secure immunity from three felony charges. While Hunt was sentenced to life in prison for the Levin murder in 1987, he was later acquitted of the Eslaminia murder charge in a 1992 trial. In a notable legal rarity, Hunt acted as his own attorney in a capital case and avoided the death penalty. Jim Pittman, another member, eventually confessed to shooting Levin in 1993 before dying in 1997.

The case has remained a subject of intense public interest, inspiring a 1987 miniseries, a 2018 feature film, and a 2025 CNN documentary series. Despite a $100,000 reward offered by Hunt's family in 2018, the whereabouts of Ron Levin remain unknown, with multiple witnesses claiming to have seen him alive in various locations years after his disappearance.

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