New Allegations Surface in ‘Billionaire’ Club Murder Case

Reports that the victim in the so-called Billionaire Boys Club murder case has been seen alive, that the state’s key witness may be linked to a Hollywood murder and that a defense attorney once suggested faking evidence surfaced in a Redwood City courtroom Friday, where four members of the investment and social group are facing trial in another murder.

Asst. Atty. Gen. John Vance informed the court about the developments during pretrial motions for defendants Ben Dosti, Joe Hunt and Reza Eslaminia, who are charged with the 1984 murder of Eslaminia’s father, Hedayat.

If the allegations are proven--and all three are far from conclusive--the Los Angeles case would be thrown out and the Northern California case seriously compromised, attorneys said.

In Santa Monica, BBC leader Joe Hunt, 27, is on trial for the 1984 murder of Beverly Hills journalist and con-man Ron Levin, whose body has never been found. Also charged is Hunt’s bodyguard, Jim Pittman, 33, whose first trial ended with a hung jury. He will be retried for Levin’s murder and then for Eslaminia’s.

According to sources present at Friday’s hearing who asked that their names not be used because much of the information was earlier sealed by a Santa Monica judge:

- A couple in Tucson, Ariz., reported to authorities in October that they had seen a man matching Levin’s description. The couple, who had seen his photo in a magazine, said they saw him at a filling station, driving an expensive, classic car, and accompanied by a young man. Both have passed polygraph tests, picked his photo from a police lineup and provided a detailed description that included a physical feature that Levin is known to have but which is not apparent in photographs.

- The name of Dean Karny, the prosecution’s star witness in both cases, has come up in connection with the murder of Richard Mayer, 21, whose decomposed body was found Oct. 18 stuffed in a trunk in a room at the Hollywood Center Motel. (Los Angeles Police Cmdr. William Booth confirmed Saturday that “Karny’s name has come up” in the investigation, but declined to say whether he is considered a suspect. “We have made no arrests and issued no warrants,” he said.)

Hunt’s attorney, Arthur Barens, reportedly received an anonymous letter alleging “a cover-up” of Karny’s possible involvement in the murder. Karny, a former BBC member, has been granted immunity in the other two murder cases in exchange for his testimony, and is now in the California Witness Protection Program.

- A former associate of defense attorney Barens has told the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office that Barens once suggested “that what we needed was a witness who would say that he had seen Levin in Rio de Janeiro.” This person, he allegedly said, could be an actor who would then be given a job by Bobby Roberts, a producer with whom defendant Hunt is now living.

Jury selection in Hunt’s Santa Monica trial was interrupted for in-chambers discussions of the new information before it surfaced in the courtroom of San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Robert Miller.

However, in Santa Monica, Superior Court Judge Lawrence Rittenband issued a gag order and ordered the transcripts of those discussions sealed at the request of attorneys on both sides. Rittenband partially lifted his order late Friday to allow Barens to respond to the allegation against him and said he would consider rescinding it entirely Monday.

Until then, attorneys in the Los Angeles case said they would not comment on the startling developments.

Barens said he often jokes that he’d like to have a photo of Levin having coffee in a Las Vegas cafe, but that any allegation that he ever suggested faking evidence is “a pure unadulterated cheap shot” by the prosecution. He pointed out that the attorney who made the allegation was fired from Barens’ firm and has a history of drug and mental problems.

Barens said he is further disturbed by the prosecution’s delay in providing information that could exonerate his client. “They have withheld information concerning witnesses who may be helpful to the defense,” he said.

Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Fred Wapner, who is prosecuting Hunt, said that the allegation concerning Barens was conveyed to the defense immediately. He said he could not comment on the substance or timing of the other two charges.

Ties to Hollywood Homicide

In Northern California, defense attorney Tom Nolan, who represents Dosti, said he is anxious to receive police reports about Dean Karny’s connection, if any, to the Hollywood homicide. “Karny plays a significant role” in the Redwood City case, Nolan said, since he told authorities the details of Eslaminia’s death and led them to the victim’s remains.

“I’m extremely concerned . . . that the police not cover up the possible involvement of a government witness,” Nolan said, noting that Karny “has been immunized for two homicides. . . . Careful scrutiny is in order.”

The Billionaire Boys Club saga of rich kids, big money and murder has drawn national attention. The defendants are well-educated young men from well-to-do, well-known Westside families who were drawn into a money-making scheme that involved millions of dollars and two mysterious deaths. And their charismatic leader, Joe Hunt, who attended prep school in the San Fernando Valley with several boys who would later join his venture, attracted both investors and followers willing to relinquish control of their money and personal lives.

Financial Hoax

Former members of the group have told authorities that Hunt boasted of having killed Levin, an acquaintance who had played a financial hoax on him, and of having forced him to sign a check for $1.5 million, which later bounced.

Levin disappeared in June, 1984. Although his body has never been found, prosecutors have one piece of evidence they believe is crucial: a list in Hunt’s handwriting and bearing his fingerprints. Headed “At Levin’s TO DO,” it lists such items as “close blinds, scan for tape recorder, tape mouth, handcuff, put gloves on, explain situation, kill dog.”

The defense maintains that Levin skipped town to avoid facing grand theft charges and that Hunt’s boast of killing him was merely posturing. Two months after Levin’s disappearance, club member Reza Eslaminia’s wealthy father, a former Iranian government official, was slain in a San Francisco suburb. Karny testified during a preliminary hearing in the case that he, along with Hunt, Dosti, Pittman and Reza Eslaminia, had kidnaped the 56-year-old Eslaminia with the intent to force him to sign his assets over to his son and to the BBC.

Staff writer Boris Yaro contributed to this report.