The Compendium Podcast
An Assembly of Fascinating and Intriguing Things, a weekly variety podcast that gives you just enough information on a topic to help you stand your ground at any social gathering. We explore big stories from true crime, history, and extraordinary people.
The Compendium Podcast
Billionaire Boys Club: Greed, Murder, and High Society Crimes
In this episode of The Compendium, we unravel the mysterious and twisted tale of the Billionaire Boys Club, an exclusive high-society club that turned into a deadly Ponzi scheme. Learn about Joe Hunt, the mastermind behind the madness, and his right-hand man, Dean Karny. Discover how their greed led to the murders of Ron Levin and Hedayat Eslaminia.
We give you the Compendium, but if you want more:
- “The Billionaire Boys Club: The Complete Story” by Sue Horton
- “Billionaire Boys Club (1987)” - Mini series by Marvin J. Chomsky
- “Billionaire Boys Club (2017)” - film starring Kevin Spacey
- “Billionaire Boys Club” - Podcast by Marcia Clark
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Credits:
- Hosts: Kyle Risi & Adam Cox
- Intro and Outro Music: Alice in dark Wonderland by Aleksey Chistilin
- All the Latest Things Intro: Clowns by Giulio Fazio
[00:00:00] Kyle Risi: So a few days later, Reza starts to organise getting access to his dad's 40 million dollars, and it turns out that everyone in the story is a scammer, because Hediat was actually penniless. He had no money. He had nothing.
[00:00:14] Adam Cox: He's been, he's a con artist as well.
[00:00:15] Kyle Risi: The only money they had was like 200, 000.
[00:00:18] Adam Cox: No.
[00:00:18] Kyle Risi: So the BBC were like, shit, we've been scammed a couple times, we've killed two people, and we're still in the bloody mess that we started off in.
[00:00:27] Adam Cox: These, like, the fact has happened twice to them.
[00:00:32] Kyle Risi: Idiots
[00:00:58] Welcome to the [00:01:00] compendium, an assembly of fascinating and intriguing things. We're a weekly variety podcast where each week I tell Adam Cox all about a topic I think you'll find both fascinating and intriguing. We dive into stories pulled from the darker corners of true crime, the annuls of your old unread history books, And the who's who of extraordinary people.
[00:01:18] We give you just enough information to stand your ground at any social gathering.
[00:01:23] I'm, of course, your ringleader this week, Kyle Recy.
[00:01:27] And I'm your stilt master. Sideshow. I'm also here. Adam.
[00:01:32] I don't think you really need stilts. I mean, what? You're six foot seven?
[00:01:35] That's what you tell people? No, I don't. Oh, don't you? Men always lie about their height.
[00:01:40] People do, actually. That's true. Didn't they do, like, a study where they realised that most men, added an extra couple inches to their height?
[00:01:47] How many inches are you adding?
[00:01:48] None. I'm not talking about your height. I've always said I'm six foot one and then I'm Actually, I say to people that I'm shorter than I actually am. Because it worked out that I was actually taller.
[00:01:58] Yeah, actually, when I went to the vitality [00:02:00] check up, they were like, Oh, you're five foot ten and a half.
[00:02:02] And I'm like, What? Yes!
[00:02:04] Adam Cox: You've grown.
[00:02:05] Kyle Risi: I've grown one inch! I've always thought I was like five foot nine and a half. Because that half has always been really important to me. Because when you're under six foot, every inch is. Half an inch is important. Every inch matters. And now I've grown a whole inch.
[00:02:18] I'm probably at that point now where I'm going to start shrinking in the next, decade or so. I think you've started. You bitch. How dare you? In today's episode of The Compendium, we're exploring an assembly of ambition, deception, and murder. Adam, I'm not going to ask you whether or not you know what this clue is about, because you don't. Because you're an idiot. Just like the boys we are talking about today.
[00:02:40] Today we're diving into the story of the billionaire boys club. A true tale of a group of very rich, very stupid bros from Los Angeles in the 1980s and our story centers around the ringleader of the Billionaire Boys Club. A young kid called Joe Hunt who gets a taste of the high life when he [00:03:00] lands a scholarship at an elite prep school and Joe thinks that he is a genius and becomes so blinded by the enormous amount of arrogance and self belief becoming convinced that he will go on to do incredible things.
[00:03:13] But After quitting school, he sets up an investment firm called the Billionaire Boys Club, and he invites all his rich friends to join because he believes that he has discovered the magic formula in trading commodities that will make him and all of his friends even richer than they already are.
[00:03:31] But Adam, very soon, it all takes a turn for the worst. Because it turns out that Joe is in fact a complete idiot and before he knows it, he is running his business into a massive Ponzi scheme, thinking that the only way out of it is to continue to con more investors out of their money just to keep the business afloat and very quickly the tables end up turning on himself when he ends up becoming the victim of a con, leading Joe not to one, [00:04:00] But two, very poorly executed murders.
[00:04:03] Adam Cox: Hang on, he, uh, begins this con, but then he gets conned himself. Yeah. And then that leads to a murder. His murder?
[00:04:11] Kyle Risi: No, two random people's murders. Well, no, they're not random. They're part of the story,
[00:04:15] Adam Cox: but he
[00:04:16] Kyle Risi: leads to murdering two people. Wow, what did he do? How did it all go so wrong? Adam, today I'm going to tell you the story of the rise and the fall of the Billionaire Boys Club, a story so idiotic that it serves as a reminder of how greed and an overinflated sense of self confidence can lead to catastrophic consequences.
[00:04:35] Adam Cox: This sounds intriguing.
[00:04:37] Kyle Risi: The thing is, though, there was a film about this, actually, and it was actually released in 2017 by the same name, and it starred Kevin Spacey, of all people . Oh, okay. Now, like, we say that with caution, because Kevin Spacey is an incredible actor. But then, of course
[00:04:52] Adam Cox: He did some shady old things. He did some
[00:04:53] Kyle Risi: shady shit, and this was the last film that Kevin Spacey did before all of those allegations of sexual abuse. [00:05:00] began to surface. It was the very last film.
[00:05:02] Adam Cox: Is this the one, was he still in it or did they cut him or? No,
[00:05:04] Kyle Risi: no, he was in it. When everything kicked off they weren't sure if going ahead with the release of the film would end up damaging its chances at the box office But eventually they do release it and it just makes a hundred and twenty six dollars at ten theatres across America
[00:05:16] Adam Cox: Oh, but isn't that because of Kevin Spacey and everything that was going through?
[00:05:20] Kyle Risi: Yeah Because of that I mean this is pretty much the movie that everyone decided that Kevin Spacey was cancelled
[00:05:27] Adam Cox: Yeah
[00:05:27] Kyle Risi: It 7 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and I think it like won the Razzie for 2019 Even so it was terrible and I know like when we're getting ready to watch a film if it's not above 89 percent you're like we're not watching 80s your limit
[00:05:42] Adam Cox: but then sometimes you can get a guilty pleasure around about 50 it's a bit like it's on the like cusp of being bad or good.
[00:05:49] I want to watch this film. Okay. It's got 7%. I don't want to watch this film. Why? Because it's got 7%.
[00:05:55] Kyle Risi: Yeah, but Adam, you got to remember that the reasons why it's a terrible film is [00:06:00] because of Kevin. Shoddy acting. Because of Kevin. No, because it also has, who's the guy that was in the Kingsman, the young guy?
[00:06:06] Aaron Tedkinton. Yeah, that weird Welsh name. It's got him in it. It's got also, the guy from Baby Driver. Oh yeah. Ansel Edgar or something. So he's in it as well along with Kevin Spacey. So there's some good serious actors, two very young up and coming actors who have proved their salt or their worth, and then Kevin Spacey.
[00:06:25] But it's got 7 percent because of course all the dodginess that he's done. But I think, We should watch it. I want to watch it only based on how idiotic this story is in real life.
[00:06:35] Adam Cox: Okay, fine. All right. We'll give it 15 minutes and then if it's bad, we'll turn it off.
[00:06:40] Kyle Risi: Okay,
[00:06:40] Adam Cox: fine.
[00:06:41] Kyle Risi: But before we kick off today's episode, as we always do at the beginning of every show.
[00:06:46] It's time for
[00:06:49] Step right up and welcome to this week's All The Latest Things, where we unveil the fascinating, the extraordinary, and the [00:07:00] downright loopy stories, strange facts, and intriguing tidbits from the past week. Adam, what's your headline act today?
[00:07:08] Adam Cox: So this week, I stumbled across a study which was done a couple of years ago by the Lund University, which I think Lund, sounds German. Uh, I think it might have been Swedish.
[00:07:18] Kyle Risi: Oh,
[00:07:19] Adam Cox: probably. Yeah, so they did a online survey, questionnaire, I think it was through Facebook, which I don't know if this is the most reliable way to get data, but anyway. I think they studied around about 260 people and this study was, designed to understand personality traits, but also overlay that with beliefs about astrology.
[00:07:38] I'm Not going to give you my opinion, but I also agree with the study.
[00:07:43] Kyle Risi: Oh no,
[00:07:44] Adam Cox: but apparently during this study, what they found is that people that believed in astrology were more likely to be narcissistic and stupid. Oh
[00:07:53] god. Stupid narcissistic people, what a combination.
[00:07:57] I know, which I feel like is a little bit harsh. That sounds very harsh. But [00:08:00] what they said is that, yeah, people that tended to believe in the powers of astrology tended to score higher than average on narcissistic measurements and also did poorly on the IQ test. And so they've come to this sort of rationale reason that that's therefore if you believe in astrology, you're kind of stupid.
[00:08:17] But they were saying that these people that believed in astrology tended to also believe in their natural leadership skills, and tended to, I don't know, think a lot of themselves, about their kind of purpose in life. And they're meant to be here and all these.
[00:08:30] Kyle Risi: Sure, a bit like Joe Hunt in our story today, which we'll find out later on. But yeah, so this overinflated sense of self-belief. Yeah.
[00:08:36] Adam Cox: So I've never really believed in the star signs or horoscopes. You'd read them, wouldn't you? Like from mystic Meg and they would say like, you are cut into great fortune this Friday. Yeah. Play the lottery. Which he also was on, or whatever it was. Uhhuh, .but so you what star sign are you? I'm a Virgo. Okay. So what are the characteristics of a Virgo?
[00:08:56] Kyle Risi: So we are creative we're [00:09:00] classic water sign, and we, we're caring, considerate. All the things I'm classically not.
[00:09:07] Adam Cox: Well, this was where I was looking at yours because it was saying that you're a perfectionist, which I think you are when you want to be. You're solution orientated, maybe. You're sensitive and emotional. No, I didn't agree with that one. You're a doer, again, when you want to be. You always look cool when you want to be. Oh God, Adam! Is modest. I would say I'm quite modest. I think you're fairly modest, actually. Is organised.
[00:09:32] Kyle Risi: When I want to be.
[00:09:35] Adam Cox: And comes across as bossy, which I don't think you come across as bossy. No,
[00:09:38] Kyle Risi: I try really hard not to be bossy because my best friend is the bossiest person on the planet and I hate it. So they're always that reminder to just not be controlling a bossy.
[00:09:49] Adam Cox: Poor that person. I'm not going to give the name. So yeah, it's, I didn't really buy yours, but then I did read mine again.
[00:09:55] Kyle Risi: Oh, here we go. Hang on. Adam, you love to be [00:10:00] told about yourself. You love it. Someone once said to you, what do you think you're Jesus or something? And you literally, you paused, you contemplated, and you went, I don't think I'm Jesus. But there was a moment of glimmer in your eyes where you were like,
[00:10:14] Adam Cox: maybe, maybe. I mean, no one said, like, I am or I'm not. I think jury's still out on that one. So what have you got? What does yours say? Well, it says I'm agreeable and honest, which I think I am. I tend to please people. Um, and also I'm indecisive or Libras are indecisive, which yeah, I think there is an element of that. Hesitant, but also says I'm lazy and superficial, which I don't think I am. Oh
[00:10:39] Kyle Risi: God, those last two, you couldn't be further from those, but I agree with everything else.
[00:10:44] You are. You are too agreeable. I think you could be more forthright and balanced, like the scales. You are. Yeah, you're a wonderful person. What was the other one?
[00:10:53] Adam Cox: lazy.
[00:10:54] Kyle Risi: Yeah, you're the least laziest person I know.
[00:10:56] Adam Cox: So this is the thing. I think you can look, if you look at all the traits, you [00:11:00] can probably pick out five out of ten that you go, Oh, yeah, that's me. Yeah, and then actually the rest of them is not and it's just rubbish. See,
[00:11:06] Kyle Risi: I was premature. I wasn't meant to be born a Virgo. So I'm in between. So
[00:11:12] Adam Cox: what
[00:11:12] Kyle Risi: should you have been? Um, I think I was supposed to be a Libra, like you.
[00:11:16] Adam Cox: But you're not balanced.
[00:11:18] Kyle Risi: No, I'm one extreme. I am one extreme to the other. Everything is on one side of the scale.
[00:11:23] Adam Cox: Or the other.
[00:11:24] So yeah, so there we go. If you believe in astrology, then apparently the study thinks you're dumb, but I don't. This study does.
[00:11:32] Kyle Risi: I think, do you know what, it's a rite of passage for you to be into astrology. Especially if you're curious, right? People are looking for answers in the world. And I think eventually you get to the point where you're smart enough to go, Okay, maybe not. Maybe this doesn't really hold any weight. Maybe it doesn't have any scientific place in the world and then you kind of move on for that. But I think everyone, needs to at some point, dabble in it.
[00:11:57] Adam Cox: Do you remember like teletext and you look on your [00:12:00] horoscopes?
[00:12:00] Kyle Risi: I don't know. It's quite an old thing, do they have it now
[00:12:02] Adam Cox: still? But in a different way? I think they, it's called the internet.
[00:12:06] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so you'll be able to press a button on your, Television remote like the red button. and then would open up like this 1980s video game
[00:12:13] Adam Cox: Yeah, just text and you could look up your horoscopes.
[00:12:16] You can play that weird game like a quiz game a game Yeah, there's all sorts You look on holidays and you'd have like 30 pages and you'd go like Oh a holiday, Mallorca Write it down then you'd miss it because it's like scrolling through
[00:12:27] Kyle Risi: like a ticker tape
[00:12:28] Adam Cox: Then you have to wait until like page 10 again comes around.
[00:12:31] So yeah, that was the days of teletext
[00:12:33] Kyle Risi: Wow, what a time to be alive and then your horoscopes would be on there. Yeah
[00:12:37] Adam Cox: Anyway, that's my latest thing. What's yours?
[00:12:39] Kyle Risi: My, So my, all the latest things this week is about a guy called Louie. So he runs his own little cleaning service, right? Called Cleaning Ferry. 100%. This guy's gay. 100%.
[00:12:49] So someone picks up his ad and they hire him to clean their friend's apartment somewhere in South Jersey. And it's a pretty standard job. They give him the address, they tell him what time to show up, and they tell him that the key is under the mat.[00:13:00]
[00:13:00] And so Lou, he gets the apartment, he finds the key under the mat, he goes in and he starts scrubbing and he's dusting and he's making everything look brilliant. And then a few hours later he's done and he gets a phone call. And it's the guy who hired him to clean the house. And he's like, Hey, buddy, did Did you come and clean today?
[00:13:22] And he's like, Yeah, like, I'm actually still here. I'm done. I'm just sitting on the couch petting your cat. And he's like, I don't have a cat.
[00:13:34] Did you hear about this? No, so he's gone to the wrong house. He went to the wrong bloody house and just by chance, he lifted up the mat and there was a key.
[00:13:42] Adam Cox: And was there supposed to be a key? under the mat where he was supposed to be going. Yes. Yeah. Right. We used to leave a key under the mat. So I guess it's commonplace.
[00:13:49] Kyle Risi: Exactly. So I think like all, everything's hitting home. Like you're at the right address, you think you're at the right door, you lift up the mat. That's going to be the biggest clue, right? Oh, there's a key there. I'm at the right house. Go see and cleans, [00:14:00] not the right house. And so the actual owners of the apartment, Beth Mortzel and her husband.
[00:14:05] So the husband comes home and of course the house is sparkling clean. So he calls Beth and he's like, Hey babe, you're not going to believe this, but someone's broken into the house and cleaned our apartment. And what I love about the story is that. Rather than believe the most logical, plausible scenario here, that his wife may have cleaned the apartment, his immediate thought is going, Someone's broken into the house and cleaned the apartment.
[00:14:29] That's what you would
[00:14:30] Adam Cox: do, because I'm lazy. Don't worry. Yeah. They've cleaned. They haven't stolen anything. I guess they
[00:14:35] Kyle Risi: obviously, the actual thing that happened is he left a note saying, I'm really sorry. I came to your house. I cleaned. And then, he's got the key
[00:14:43] Adam Cox: back. Yeah. I've also fed your cat, and I've taken out your bins.
[00:14:47] Kyle Risi: Exactly. How funny. And he didn't rob them. I would totally rob the fuck out of their apartment. If I'd come in and gone, Oh, cleaned the wrong apartment. Oh, I've just wasted a whole day. I'll be taking this heirloom, and I'll be taking that [00:15:00] heirloom.
[00:15:00] Adam Cox: What if they've got, CCTV in their house?
[00:15:02] Kyle Risi: Oh, yeah.
[00:15:03] Adam Cox: Can't really do that.
[00:15:04] Kyle Risi: No, you can't. And what if you didn't know they had CCTV, and then you were doing weird stuff?
[00:15:09] Adam Cox: It's a good thing that you're not a cleaner. I would not trust you to clean. I
[00:15:13] Kyle Risi: would love Lois, our cleaner, to write a memoir. Diary of a Maid.
[00:15:16] Adam Cox: All the things that
[00:15:17] Kyle Risi: she's seen.
[00:15:18] God knows what she must tell people about us because she tells me everything I hope none of her clients listen to this. But yeah, that's all my latest things for this week Cool
[00:15:26]
[00:15:29] Kyle Risi: So Adam, the story of the billionaire boys club starts with a kid named Joseph Henry Gamsky. Now, Joe comes from a lower middle class family. He's not exactly rolling in dough, but his brains and his ambition land him a scholarship at Harvard Boys High, which is the super snooty prep school in LA. And it's kind of like the school where all the rich, famous kids went.
[00:15:49] Kind of like that precursor school guaranteed to land you a place at like an Ivy league. kind of university. The only thing that comes to mind is that school that Rory goes [00:16:00] to from the Gilmore Girls, that prep school, because you know, like, it's a really good high school and it's going to get her ready to go to Harvard and it's going to be a walk in the park because she comes from one of the best schools around.
[00:16:13] Do you know what I mean?
[00:16:13] Adam Cox: Um, you're speaking to me as if I watch the Gilmore Girls. You do
[00:16:16] Kyle Risi: not watch, Listen, you've been in the room a dozen times while I watch that show. It's time you started picking it up.
[00:16:22] Adam Cox: It's, it's the time where I learned how to fall asleep with my eyes open. Anyway,
[00:16:29] Kyle Risi: so it's one of those schools.
[00:16:30] And it's here that Joe ends up getting a taste for the high life. Remember, he doesn't come from a very rich background. He's kind of lower middle class. So he's rubbing shoulders with all these privileged, out of touch, rich kids. And so he becomes determined that he is going to make his fortune and solidify his place amongst them.
[00:16:47] He wants to be one of them. Right. He likes the respect that comes with being A rich white kid. So at university, Joe ends up doing three semesters of some random finance degree, which when he figures he already knows everything [00:17:00] that he needs to know, he decides that he's just gonna drop out. Joe heads to Chicago and he starts trading commodities. Do you know what a commodity is?
[00:17:07] No. Is that gold?
[00:17:09] Adam Cox: Okay.
[00:17:09] Kyle Risi: Yeah, something tangible, like corn, or onions, or gold. Corn, onions, or
[00:17:13] Adam Cox: gold. They're not three things you put in your shopping basket at Tesco.
[00:17:18] Kyle Risi: Yeah, but no, I didn't, I didn't say he went shopping at Tesco's Adam. I said he went trading commodities.
[00:17:24] Adam Cox: Well, because you went for like groceries and gold. The two don't really go together. They're a
[00:17:28] Kyle Risi: thing. They're a thing that you can trade like coffee. That's a commodity, right? Like forex? Foreign exchange? Trading? Yeah, I don't know what that is. Okay, anyway.
[00:17:36] Anyway, he's trading commodities, basically. But not surprisingly, he is terrible at it. And in the end, he ends up losing a ton of money because he's doing like really shady things with client deposits. Basically, he's borrowing his client's money and starts to carry out various trades on his own and then keeping the money.
[00:17:54] So he's being very dodgy. He's not allowed to do that. You can't misappropriate client's money. [00:18:00] Eventually all of this catches up with him and he ends up getting suspended from trading for 10 years. So with his tail between his legs, Joe just heads back to LA.
[00:18:09] But he isn't one to stay down for very long because he starts looking for his next venture and he figures he can take advantage of the direct connection that he has with all his rich kid friends from his high school days. And so he sets up this company called the BBC. Which stands for?
[00:18:23] Adam Cox: Not the British Broadcasting Corporation.
[00:18:24] No, it's not.
[00:18:25] Kyle Risi: That's the first thing I thought. This actually stands for the Bombay Bicycle Club Consolidated. And it was actually inspired by a restaurant they really liked in Chicago. It's basically a bar where you can go and you can play like 80s video games and things like that. So really popular. It's like one of those retro kind of arcade games, but imagine a bar.
[00:18:41] Adam Cox: Yeah.
[00:18:41] Kyle Risi: Loser kind of nerdy kids. Okay. But it's very nice, apparently. He also changes his name from Joseph Gamsby to Joe Hunt. Why? Because he wants to kind of distance himself from his shady past, but also he feels that it's a more powerful name.
[00:18:56] It's a bit like when Homer changed his name.
[00:18:58] Adam Cox: What to Max Power? Max Power. [00:19:00] Yeah.
[00:19:00] Kyle Risi: Your name says a lot, right?
[00:19:02] Adam Cox: Yeah, I remember when a guy asked him, it's like, where did you get your name from, or whatever, where does it come from, and he went like, hairdryer.
[00:19:06] Kyle Risi: Yeah, and it wasn't even the brand, it was just like, the top setting. That went completely over my head, I didn't realise that he, that's where the name came from. Yeah. Brilliant. So he changes his name to Joe Hunt, where he pulls together all the leftover shady money That he had from his commodity trading days. He buys an expensive car, He buys some fancy clothes, and he buys a brand new watch. He wants to look the part, essentially. And then one by one he tracks out all of his old high school buddies And he spins them this wild story of how he is such a genius that he managed to graduate from university in just one year.
[00:19:42] He didn't. He dropped out.
[00:19:43] Adam Cox: Everyone's gonna know that's a lie, right?
[00:19:45] Kyle Risi: Well, they believe it. Really? But yeah, he tells them how he made it big as a commodities trader because the thing is, he did go off and work in commodities. He just left out the bit where
[00:19:54] Adam Cox: he graduated.
[00:19:55] Kyle Risi: He graduated or he got sacked for misappropriating funds, right?
[00:19:58] So he tells them how he's [00:20:00] made it big as a commodities trader and he's devised this unbelievable formula for trading and making a ton of money. And his buddies are like, wow, Joe's like a high flyer now, man. And once they are all sufficiently impressed with how successful he's become, he's like, Oh, by the way, I'm actually hiring.
[00:20:16] Do you want a job? And they're like, Sure, let's do this because Joe has this real major affinity with knowing how to appeal to these really rich dumb kids And it's really easy to persuade them His silver bullet is basically just telling them that he can help them succeed on their own free from like their parents shadow
[00:20:33] Adam Cox: All we need is a bit of your parents money and then Exactly!
[00:20:36] That's
[00:20:37] Kyle Risi: exactly what happens! So slowly over time he persuades all these rich trust fund buddies from high school to come and join the BBC. And like you just said, there's a very good reason why Joe's targeting these guys specifically, because they all come from families with insane amounts of money. I mean, We're talking millions, billions of dollars. I can
[00:20:54] Adam Cox: make up my own mum and dad. All I need is 5 million. And I'll be off.
[00:20:59] Kyle Risi: So like [00:21:00] Joe knew that he would have a tough time convincing like just a regular investor to invest money with the BBC But by using the already established connections that he had with his team's families, he could raise easy capital from them So he's clever like why would he slog from the bottom when he can just use his rich mates to get there faster?
[00:21:17] So he's given them all the spiel. So it's real, real easy. All training just involved was him getting his team to hit up their rich family and friends. And it works. They bring in some serious cash. Which Joe is going to apply his genius trading formula to and just double everyone's money.
[00:21:33] So the culture at the BBC is exactly what you'd expect from the Wolf of Wall Street.
[00:21:39] Adam Cox: So they're like, they're doing cocaine off of people.
[00:21:41] Kyle Risi: 100%. So it's a bunch of rich kids that are playing the big corporate game.
[00:21:45] They're strutting around in Armani suits, constantly snorting Coke. They drive around these big sports cars, fancy dinners at restaurants with supermodels and all that jazz. Exactly as you would expect, just worse and more toxic. And Joe's [00:22:00] charisma as their leader breeds this cult like sense of bro culture and loyalty.
[00:22:05] And eventually they start referring to themselves as the billionaire boys club. Right. And that's where the name comes from. And they all just think they are the dog's bollocks, like nobody can touch them. Because A, they're high flyers, they're in business, they're in finance, and they're rich as fuck.
[00:22:20] and you've got all your bros around you that are telling you that you are literally invincible, and you are the best. So you can understand how that could just breed this toxic environment of just delusion.
[00:22:30] Adam Cox: Yeah, they sound amazing. Insufferable.
[00:22:32] Kyle Risi: They are. They're all fucking hot though, but yes, they're all insufferable.
[00:22:37] But it's not long until Joe's overinflated ego catches up with him because it turns out that that magic trading formula just didn't work at all and they are literally hemorrhaging money all over the place. But rather than tell anyone he decides that he's going to keep this a secret and he starts lying to investors and his bros at the BBC about how much money they're actually making.
[00:22:58] he just tells them that every month they're just [00:23:00] absolutely smashing it and ultimately this backfires because investors are now like, wow we're making all this money Can I have some profits, please?
[00:23:06] Adam Cox: Yeah, he's like, uh, I'll get back to you on that.
[00:23:10] Kyle Risi: So he starts paying them out using new money that he's getting from new investors. And essentially, he's slowly turning the BBC into a massive Ponzi scheme, because that's the definition of it, right? Taking money from one person to pay off another investor. But Joe doesn't actually want it to be a Ponzi scheme. He actually wants this business to work, but he just needs to kind of like, fine tune that formula.
[00:23:33] Adam Cox: Do you know what there's so many people like this. So what year was this?
[00:23:36] Kyle Risi: This would have been The 80s, the late 80s.
[00:23:39] Adam Cox: I'm just like, um, on like Instagram or TikTok, these people that come up and go I can turn you into a day trader. Just join my course. Oh yes, of course. They're usually in Dubai. Like, you know, someone's taking a picture of them by their laptop, by a pool and then they're doing like all these amazing things and they're like, I only work two hours a day.
[00:23:55] Such bullshit. And they're just getting, paid as a, like an affiliate to resell [00:24:00] this course. And it just blows my mind how many of these. Traders are out there. There's
[00:24:06] Kyle Risi: No accountability there either because the easy way out is oh, it didn't work for you. Oh, you must have done it wrong Yeah, because look at me. Do you know what I mean? Look how successful I am look at all these other Testimonials that we've got of all these other rich bros who did the exact same and look how rich they are Yeah, they're like, oh I made 10 pound
[00:24:21] Adam Cox: in my first week.
[00:24:22] Kyle Risi: Yeah.
[00:24:23] Adam Cox: And somehow I got into some like WhatsApp groups oh, if you follow the professor's formula or join this group or whatever, . How did they get your number? No idea . But I was in about 10 different groups. I had to slowly unsubscribe and you knew it was bots because every time the professor air quotes would give a trade, you'd get like instant messages of people going, this is amazing. I follow you with my life and all this kind of bullshit.
[00:24:45] Yeah. And then you have someone that like crops up and goes like your load a bunch of bots and then starts cursing. And then they just carry on with these automated messages. God,
[00:24:53] Kyle Risi: it's crazy. They even say that I think 2024 is the first year where the number of bots on the [00:25:00] internet have now surpassed the number of actual real genuine people on platforms like Twitter.
[00:25:05] And, Reddit, and it always amazes me. I'm like, but what does that mean? Like, how do I know it's a bot? what does a bot look like? And then when I started looking into it, my God, the complexity of the conversations that these bots can have is just crazy.
[00:25:19] Adam Cox: I wonder if podcasts will get be done by bots at some point.
[00:25:22] Kyle Risi: How
[00:25:23] Adam Cox: I don't know someone will replace us
[00:25:24] Kyle Risi: I hope so, so hard doing the show,
[00:25:26] Adam Cox: I mean, it's the main reason I'm here, to show that this is real and that, you know, we're engaged. Otherwise,
[00:25:30] Kyle Risi: you say I'm wooden and I'm a robot.
[00:25:33] Anyway, Adam, so yeah, like, like I said, it ultimately backfires because investors now want to start cashing out on some profits. So he is basically just using new invested money to pay kind of existing clients just as a stopgap because he's going to make this work. He genuinely believes that he is a genius and he thinks that if he can just cover all of his losses just for a little bit, then his formula will start to work and he'll start to make money and the business will get back on [00:26:00] track.
[00:26:00] So I admire him for that, right? Sure. He's not a con artist out of the gate. He became an accidental con artist. Yeah. But he's been trying to claw his way back in. So big respect, still an idiot.
[00:26:11] And like lots of people question, like, why didn't he just come clean to his bros that he was in trouble at the BBC? But it's because if they knew then he would risk his bros not pushing their families to invest even more money Which would then of course be a total disaster because he's relying on that new money coming in so he can pay kind of old investors.
[00:26:27] He also has to continue paying out exorbitant commission checks just to keep up appearances. Really? So all these bros are still making a ton of money and he knows that he's paying their commission checks out of
[00:26:39] Adam Cox: their money.
[00:26:40] Kyle Risi: Their own money.
[00:26:41] Adam Cox: He's just basically paying them back.
[00:26:43] Kyle Risi: Essentially. Joe also knows that he can't keep it a secret for very long. So he starts looking for a solution, which he finds when he meets a very rich guy called Ron Levin at a party that he ends up going to. And this is Kevin Spacey's character in the movie I was telling you about [00:27:00] in the beginning. Got you.
[00:27:01] So the pair hit it off pretty well. And when Joe finds out how wealthy Ron is, he starts working him in the hopes that he can convince him to invest in the BBC. So Joe arranges a lunch for the following week where he's going to feed him some bullshit spiel and at the meeting Ron Levin is super impressed like everything that joe tells him is impressive to him And what impresses him the most is the fact that joe reminds him of himself, right?
[00:27:27] So it's like that old kind of like Gee kid, you remind me of me when I was a kid, you know? Here, here's five million dollars or whatever. That kind of bullshit. Did Kevin Spacey speak like that? No, he didn't. No, he didn't. Not at all. But that's how I imagined he would have spoken in this role. Ron agrees to invest and he gives Joe five million dollars, which he will pay into an investment account.
[00:27:48] And he tells Joe that you can trade this money however you want and whatever profit you make you can keep 50%.
[00:27:54] Adam Cox: Okay.
[00:27:54] Kyle Risi: And Joe is like, Ka ching! Yeah,
[00:27:57] Adam Cox: that sounds like a good deal.
[00:27:58] Kyle Risi: And he thinks that if he can [00:28:00] trade that five million, and turn a profit, then he can cover all the losses and get the business back on track.
[00:28:05] Adam Cox: Yeah, because he's an excellent trader.
[00:28:06] Kyle Risi: He's not an excellent trader. Now, you're probably thinking he loses it, right? Well, maybe not at first.
[00:28:12] Well, you've ruined my next line! But surprise! Joe actually manages to turn that 5 million into 13 million.
[00:28:19] Adam Cox: Oh wow, that's pretty good.
[00:28:20] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so he makes a profit of 8 million, meaning that Joe's cut is 4 million dollars.
[00:28:25] Adam Cox: But I'm guessing he doesn't quit while he's ahead.
[00:28:27] Kyle Risi: He wants to quit while he's ahead. Oh, he does?
[00:28:29] Adam Cox: Okay.
[00:28:29] Kyle Risi: He can't get hold of Ron so after a couple weeks of constant calling He decides that he's gonna call the investment bank directly This is the company that owns the actual bank account that he paid the five million into right and he says to them like hi Yeah, I can't seem to contact Ron Can you help put me into contact with him and after a bit of back and forth the bank exec goes?
[00:28:52] But by the way, how's the documentary going and Joe's like, excuse me, And the exec is like, you know, the documentary that you're making with all those fake trades, it sounds [00:29:00] fascinating. And Joe is internally screaming, but he plays it cool. And he's like, Oh, yeah, yeah, the documentary.
[00:29:07] Yeah, it's going really well. And he keeps the exec talking so he can get as much information from them as possible. And it turns out, That Ron had told the bank that he was a filmmaker making a documentary about trading and persuades them to set up a dummy account with five million dollars in it purely for filming purposes.
[00:29:27] Adam Cox: Okay.
[00:29:28] Kyle Risi: And like, doing this isn't really unusual because like very often for training purposes, investment banks will sometimes use dummy accounts to simulate real trading. But these are all very clearly marked as dummy accounts. Right, okay. But Ron convinces them to make the account look as real as possible for realistic effect in the documentary.
[00:29:47] Right. So the bank had set up this dummy account and when he provides Joe access to it, he is none the wiser. He. He thinks it's all legit, he thinks it's a real account. So Joe starts trading and he turns a 5 [00:30:00] million into 13 million.
[00:30:01] Adam Cox: But it's all just like Monopoly money essentially.
[00:30:04] Kyle Risi: Exactly! And as Joe is doing this, Ron then takes that dummy account, showing the 8 million dollars of profit to another bank and asks them for a loan.
[00:30:15] And they're super impressed because they're looking at the trading history and they're going, wow, you know how to trade commodities. And so, they lend him one million dollars. And essentially, Ron was a con artist using Joe's trading formula to convince another bank to lend him a million dollars. The scammer got scammed!
[00:30:33] Adam Cox: No way. You would never think that would happen, right? Unless you're like, I don't know, it's like the FBI or whatever, like, conning you or something.
[00:30:40] How, how did this all come about? It just feels so unlikely for Ron. a con artist to get conned by another con artist.
[00:30:47] Kyle Risi: What are the chances? But yeah, that happened to Joe, man.
[00:30:51] Adam Cox: Wow. Crazy. So what happened when Joe found out? What did he do?
[00:30:56] Kyle Risi: Of course, he's livid. So eventually, Joe does make contact with Ron [00:31:00] and he's like, Look, man, I know what you did. And honestly, big respect. And he's like, obviously you make money doing dodgy shit, so let's talk about doing some dodgy shit together.
[00:31:09] And so Ron is persuaded and he invites Joe over for dinner. Okay. But Joe isn't going to get scammed again. Joe's not going over to chat. He's actually going over to kill Ron and rob him of any money that he has. So
[00:31:24] Adam Cox: that's a very, um, 180 reaction.
[00:31:26] Kyle Risi: It escalated pretty damn quick, right? so When Joe arrives, he is amazed by the size of Ron's house and clearly he has some serious cash. So tonight is going to be a big payday for him. While the two are having dinner, a mafia thug suddenly turns up and is demanding to see Joe. And he's saying that he'd follow Joe there and that Joe owed him a bunch of money through a dodgy deal. However, this thug isn't actually from the mafia. He's a guy called Joe Pittman, who is the security guard at the BBC. [00:32:00] And Jim is just pretending to be from the Mafia as part of this plan.
[00:32:03] Adam Cox: Right, so Joe's orchestrated this for when he meets Ron, that's how it's all going to go down. As if, like, a legitimate, murder or whatever it is.
[00:32:11] Kyle Risi: So basically, Joe is like, look man, I can't give you the money that I owe you until Ron gives me the money that he owes me.
[00:32:19] So the Mafia thug turns to Ron and he's like, give Joe the money so he can pay me, otherwise I'm going to kill you. And so terrified, Ron admits that the only money he has is two million dollars in a Swiss bank account.
[00:32:29] So the thug makes him write out a cheque for all the money, and when he does, he immediately shoots him in the head, and together, Joe and Jim take his body out to the desert and they bury him.
[00:32:39] Adam Cox: Wow. That's
[00:32:41] Kyle Risi: Escalated pretty damn quick, over,
[00:32:43] Adam Cox: done, dusted. But how does he think he's gonna get away with this?
[00:32:46] Because, that's murder. You
[00:32:48] Kyle Risi: It is murder. He's an idiot.
[00:32:50] Adam Cox: Hang on, I'm just thinking about this. So he's, he thought he had five million. He thought he made eight million. But now he's got at least two million. But he still owes people a load of money. Yeah, and so [00:33:00] how does he think he's gonna like win because
[00:33:03] Kyle Risi: I think it got to the point where he was just like There's no way I'm getting scammed. Yeah, it's a more of a pride thing,
[00:33:09] Adam Cox: right? Okay,
[00:33:10] Kyle Risi: so he's like I'm gonna kill him, but he's obviously probably still short like it's still not the 4 million that he wanted but it's 2 million yeah, but is it because What Jim and Joe are forgetting is that Ron was a scammer and that holding a gun to his head didn't change that.
[00:33:26] Turns out that the two million dollar check that Ron wrote him bounces because there was only two hundred and thirty dollars in that account. And Ron was actually broke. According to the police, at the time of his murder, his parents were paying his rent.
[00:33:40] Adam Cox: Wow. I mean, yeah, you probably shouldn't trust a con artist ever. Absolutely. At least don't
[00:33:48] Kyle Risi: kill him until the check clears, if anything. So Joe is now well and truly screwed. So he decides the best thing to do is to just come clean to all the guys at the BBC. And he's confident. That if he [00:34:00] plays into this bro culture, they will stand by him.
[00:34:03] So he gathers everyone around and he tells them that they're not making money, but he promises that they are going to do whatever it takes to get back in profit.
[00:34:09] And they all kind of have no choice but to kind of rally around him because the alternative is to admit to their families that they've lost all their money. So they have to egg themselves on. And this ends up turning into this display of kind of bro sticking together, chest thumping, guerrilla grunts, and Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo! And all that kind of nonsense that you would expect from one of those scenes in Wolf of Wall Street.
[00:34:32] Adam Cox: But has he been like 100 percent honest with them? Or is he just like, Oh, things haven't quite worked out, have they? Yes,
[00:34:36] Kyle Risi: exactly. So he now has to have another meeting. Right. And so Joe arranges this other meeting with all the upper members of the BBC.
[00:34:44] And then he tells him all the details about Rod, the fake 30 million, and how Jim And Joe ended up killing him, they sold his money, which ended up being a dodgy check. Why would you tell people that? I guess he needs help getting out of this mess, right? And after they [00:35:00] hear this, they are more concerned that an old dude tried to scam Joe rather than him murdering someone and burying him out in the desert.
[00:35:08] They all just agree to band together and do whatever it takes to get the company out of this mess. So it's a real toxic kind of bro, banding together, camaraderie culture that they've got going on here. And just like before, they're all like, We've got you bro, let's get strippers and snot some coke off some titties!
[00:35:25] And then they just party and they're pounding the air and just like mass hysteria. And it's just weird.
[00:35:30] Adam Cox: Did you make that up?
[00:35:31] Kyle Risi: No, that's what happened.
[00:35:32] So despite everyone promising to do whatever it takes to get out this mess, there are two guys in the room who are quietly giving each other the side eye. They're like, the fuck is happening? So these two are brothers they're like the richest boys of the BBC. Their families are like multi billionaires who own like a bunch of department stores across the USA. So they leave the meeting and immediately they run to the nearest police station, they call their family lawyers and they're like, we're caught up in a lot of weird shit. Mum, [00:36:00] dad, help.
[00:36:00] Yeah, not so big now are we?
[00:36:03] So they tell the police everything that they've just heard and when they hear the name Ron Levin, The police are like, what's Ron got himself into now? Because The desert. Well, they don't know that. They kind of like start half arskedly looking into him. But it's tricky because A, there's no body. These guys don't come across that credible. They seem very young and they just think they're talking a lot of crap.
[00:36:25] Meanwhile, back at the BBC. A couple days later, one of the members of the BBC, a guy called Reza, is like, Joe listen, I'm so glad like you told us what was going on.
[00:36:37] It really shows how much you trust us and I have a solution how we can fix this. So he tells him that his dad, hediot, is worth 40 million dollars. But he also hates him. So he suggests that they kidnap his dad, make him hand over his 40 million dollars, In kind of net worth over to his son. They kill him together and [00:37:00] then they split the money
[00:37:01] Adam Cox: He's willing to kill his dad.
[00:37:02] Kyle Risi: Mm
[00:37:03] Adam Cox: hmm
[00:37:03] Kyle Risi: Yeah, so his dad is like this kind of like iranian official who kind of escapes from iran And he's got like a load of money but they don't have a very good relationship, but He's more like bros before like family. So they're willing to kill his dad and split the costs. And all the guys are like, yeah, great idea. So they decide to kill Rez's dad. But remember, I can't stress enough. These guys are idiots.
[00:37:27] Adam Cox: Yeah, I mean, they haven't really Right so far no
[00:37:31] Kyle Risi: So they kidnap Reza's dad from his apartment. They bundle him into the trunk of their car. They punch a bunch of holes in the trunk so that he can breathe and then they start driving out to the desert. But along the way Hidiat won't stop screaming And so the worry that someone will hear his screams In the trunk, so they pull over and they tape up the holes, and they keep driving, and when they get to the desert location, he's suffocated and died.
[00:37:53] Adam Cox: Okay, um, let's just track back a little bit. Could they have not just taped his mouth shut? Or is [00:38:00] that, is that still too loud? I didn't think of that. But they thought, rather than doing that, we'll just tape the holes.
[00:38:05] Kyle Risi: I guess because they didn't want to open up the boot, because maybe they didn't tie him up.
[00:38:09] So if they open up the boot, then he might leg it. So the easiest thing would to Why did they tie him up? They should have done. I guess. And gag him.
[00:38:16] Adam Cox: Yeah. Not that I've done this before, by the way. Hang on. Hey, you
[00:38:22] Kyle Risi: have
[00:38:22] Adam Cox: done it. You've done it to me. Um, yeah, these, these guys are dumb. So they're gone like, great, let's get the money out of him. They open up the trunk and he's now dead. He's dead.
[00:38:33] Kyle Risi: Now they were going to kill him anyway, but this isn't ideal because they needed him to transfer over all his assets to Reza before they killed him. What dumb pieces of shit. I know, idiots! So while they're trying to work out what to do, they realize, hang on a minute, Reza is going to inherit all the money anyway.
[00:38:50] It'll just take a couple months longer, but like, he's dead and we did it. So BBC, BBC, billionaire, boys club.
[00:38:57] Adam Cox: That's assuming that in his will, it's going to be [00:39:00] left to Reza, right?
[00:39:02] Kyle Risi: It's even worse than that.
[00:39:06] So the bury him and not far from this is where Joe and Jim previously buried Ron. And Joe's best mate, Dean, who will later testify that when they were burying Hediat, Jim pointed out that Ron's body was somewhere over there. So they know that it was somewhere in that area, but we'll come on to his body in just a second.
[00:39:25] So a few days later, Reza starts to organise getting access to his dad's 40 million dollars, and it turns out that everyone in the story is a scammer, because Hediat was actually penniless. He had no money. He had nothing.
[00:39:38] Adam Cox: He's been, he's a con artist as well.
[00:39:39] Kyle Risi: He wasn't a con artist, he just was broke.
[00:39:41] He'd been telling everyone that he had 40 million dollars,
[00:39:43] when in fact he was completely broke. I think like
[00:39:45] the only money they had was like 200, 000.
[00:39:47] So there was pretty much nothing to inherit.
[00:39:50] Adam Cox: No.
[00:39:50] Kyle Risi: So the BBC were like, shit, we've been scammed a couple times, we've killed two people, and we're still in the bloody mess that we started off in.
[00:39:59] Adam Cox: [00:40:00] These,
[00:40:00] like, the fact has happened
[00:40:02] twice to them.
[00:40:04] Kyle Risi: Idiots.
[00:40:05] So by this point, the police carry out a search of Ron Levin's house. Of course, there's no evidence of any foul play. There's no body, there's nothing to indicate that a crime had been committed. It just seems like he's skipped town. But his housekeeper is like, he's not taking any clothes with him, and he's not taking his dog with him.
[00:40:23] And this is something he would just never do. He loved his dog. So, they're about to leave. And the police look into a cupboard, and a seven page list falls out titled, Ron Levin, Things to Do. And on it, they see things like, Tape mouth, Handcuffs, Wear gloves, Explain situation, Scan for tape recorders, Kill dog.
[00:40:44] What? Wh what? Basically This is how dumb joe is he basically left a murder to do list at the murder victims house. Oh god But even worse He wrote it on joe hunt letter headed stationary. Oh my god But even [00:41:00] more idiotic he was using the list To practice his signature doodles, like when you're on the phone and you're like, I'll just sign my name and you do that a bunch of times. He's written, he's signed it like a dozen times.
[00:41:13] Adam Cox: Also, by the sounds of things, he didn't get through that list very well. Because he didn't kill the dog. He didn't kill
[00:41:18] Kyle Risi: the dog, thank god!
[00:41:19] Adam Cox: So that's another thing we can say about this guy. He's an
[00:41:21] Kyle Risi: idiot!
[00:41:22] Adam Cox: He can't even complete a stupid list! This guy, oh my god.
[00:41:27] Kyle Risi: So of course Adam, the police pull him in for an interview, obviously, and he's really cocky, he's confident, he's got a bunch of answers kind of prepped to all their questions, but then they pull out the list and he goes as white as a ghost and then he goes through each page one by one, silently, and then he closes it.
[00:41:46] And he's like, I'd like a lawyer please.
[00:41:48] Adam Cox: I've never seen this list before in my life. But I would like
[00:41:51] Kyle Risi: to speak to a lawyer. Thank you very much. Goodbye. And this is where everything starts to unravel pretty damn quickly. And of course, a bunch of the boys at the BBC [00:42:00] are all arrested. And as for the, as for the bro culture, well, fuck that because they all start talking immediately.
[00:42:06] And Joe's best friend is a guy called Dean Carney. Now, he consults a lawyer and very quickly they sort out a deal with the prosecution in exchange for total immunity. And even though he was there when they killed Hediat, he agrees to testify against everyone, especially Joe, who's his best friend.
[00:42:27] So it didn't last very long. There was no like kind of struggle or anything. Bro, bro culture's
[00:42:32] Adam Cox: fickle, man. That's what I mean, it's just like, he's completely turned on it, like, no, save yourself sort of thing.
[00:42:37] Kyle Risi: Yeah, and so with his help, they trace back to Hediat's body in the desert, but they can't find Ron's body anywhere. Of course, Joe is obviously also charged with the murder of Ron Levin and Hediat. And he will actually have to stand two separate trials for each of their murders.
[00:42:54] They're not gonna bundle them. It's two separate trials. So first up, of course, is the trial of [00:43:00] Ron Levin. And of course, it's so obvious that he did it because he wrote it down.
[00:43:06] Adam Cox: I reckon the police that were like, um, getting on that case were like, um, how are we going to solve this murder? And then they stumbled across that list.
[00:43:14] They were like,
[00:43:15] Kyle Risi: found it. Got it, chief. So Joey's sentenced to life in prison in spite of there not obviously being a body. So the trial becomes this huge story in the media because of course, it was around about the time that core TV was gaining popularity in the 1980s and kind of like 24 hour news and all that jazz.
[00:43:33] Jim Pittman, the security guard, he can't actually afford bail because of course, he's just a security guard. So, unlike everyone else who's arrested, he actually has to stay in prison, for three years until the trial's all over. Really? Wow. That's a long time.
[00:43:49] And not one person offers to pay his bail. So during the trial, the jury are unable to reach a unanimous decision on Jim's involvement. That's the security guard. So prosecutors hold a second trial [00:44:00] and the result is the same. The jury can't decide if he's guilty. So instead of going for a third trial, prosecutors offered Jim a deal. If he pleads guilty, he won't be put through another trial, which means that he won't have to stay in jail.
[00:44:14] And because of that, because he's already served three years, he will technically go free. He just needs to plead guilty. So naturally he agrees but when he's released, he immediately goes on television and boasts that he did it, because in America, there is something called double jeopardy, meaning that he can't be tried for the same crime twice.
[00:44:33] what? How did? Why would he?
[00:44:36] So he completely milks a story and he gets a boatload of money and a boatload of notoriety and he Yeah, he's just scot free and he's openly This guy who just got away with murder.
[00:44:47] What a bastard. He does end up dying a few years later from kidney disease. Um, well, I'm okay about
[00:44:53] Adam Cox: that, to be honest. A bit harsh, but yeah, okay, fair enough. I'm not happy about it, I'm just okay about it.
[00:44:59] Kyle Risi: So because [00:45:00] of all the delays in the Ron Levin trial, involving obviously Jim, it takes a few years for the trial for the murder of Hediat to begin.
[00:45:07] When it does kick off, his son Reza and the other guy who was there the night are found guilty very quickly and they're obviously sentenced and they go to prison for life. Meanwhile, this whole time, Joe has been prepping for His second trial, he's been busy studying a bunch of legal books. Because he has decided that he is going to represent himself in court.
[00:45:28] Adam Cox: The arrogance and narcissism of this man. I bet he believes in horoscopes.
[00:45:32] Kyle Risi: Yeah, probably. People always tell him that he's super charismatic and he's good at convincing people. So he thinks like, I've got this, right? So we have to give him his dues because he's actually very good. So remember how like, Dean Carney, got immunity because obviously he agreed to snitch on everyone so no one can touch him So he's gone free. Well Knowing this Joe manages to convince everyone on the jury that dean carney was actually the one who killed hediat Which is [00:46:00] fine, because he can convince them of it, and they could believe it.
[00:46:03] They can't do anything to Dean, because he's got immunity. Oh. Yeah. Okay, that kind of is smart. So again, the jury can't decide if he's guilty, and he gets off with murder. So the prosecutors decide that they're not going to pursue another trial. They believe he's guilty.
[00:46:19] Like, he's 100 percent killed, idiot. They don't believe this bullshit spin. That he's Kind of painted on Dean and trying to make him responsible. They believe he did it, but they're not going to pursue a second trial because remember Joe's already in prison for life for killing Ron Levin. So like, another trial will just waste everyone's money when he's going to be in jail forever anyway.
[00:46:40] However, because the charges against Joe were dropped, Ron's Reza and the other guy, so that's Hedayat's son, and the other guy involved, they're like, how can you sentence us to life but drop the charges against Joe? If you drop the charges against him, then you have to drop the charges against us. And consequently, they get their convictions overturned [00:47:00] as well. And they end up going free. What a mess. This is an
[00:47:03] Adam Cox: absolute mess.
[00:47:04] Kyle Risi: So just to tally up the number of people that are actually in jail, it's just Joe. Everyone's gone free.
[00:47:11] Adam Cox: I mean, he did start this whole mess, but equally, these other people should be in prison.
[00:47:15] They
[00:47:16] Kyle Risi: should be. So after all of this, the only person who ends up getting properly punished is Joe. Everyone else got away with it, and to this day, Joe is still in prison and nobody has been found guilty of the murder of Hediat. His
[00:47:29] Adam Cox: murder's gone unpunished. What about the rest of the family? Because, I don't know, did he not have a wife or, like, anyone else?
[00:47:35] I guess the son might be disowned a bit, right?
[00:47:37] Kyle Risi: Unless he was an absolute dick that they hated him as well.
[00:47:40] Adam Cox: But, I mean, he wasn't rich, but yeah. He
[00:47:42] Kyle Risi: definitely wasn't rich. That's another reason to hate him. What? You said he had 40 million dollars.
[00:47:47] Adam Cox: Oh, it's fine. He's gone. No, I don't mean that.
[00:47:49] Kyle Risi: So maintains that he is innocent on account that Ron's body was never found and also over the years Several witnesses have come forward saying that they've seen Ron in various locations around the [00:48:00] world And so because of this Joe's family are relentless with their investigation Advocating
[00:48:03] Adam Cox: for his innocence.
[00:48:04] I said that actually Ron's like out there living his life. Yeah, he was a
[00:48:08] Kyle Risi: scammer. He was a scammer after all. So how do we know this wasn't a scam? He faked his
[00:48:11] Adam Cox: own
[00:48:11] Kyle Risi: death? Or how somehow?
[00:48:11] Website offering like a hundred thousand dollars for any information that will lead to the whereabouts of Ron Levin. They just need to prove that he's alive. But also, they keep just peddling how much Joe has changed since being in prison, saying that he's now earned a law degree, he's now become a qualified minister, and he represents a prime example of rehabilitation in the prison system. And therefore, he's rehabilitated, he's a good guy, he's a minister, set him free!
[00:48:36] But they're like, still, lol, no.
[00:48:38] Adam Cox: I know, I wouldn't trust him, like, being a minister, leading a church, or a lawyer. So, he's a very respectable I mean, he was a pretty good lawyer. Yeah. He got himself off. Yeah, okay. Is that when he was like, Hmm,
[00:48:50] Kyle Risi: maybe I should be a lawyer? And then started learning. Yeah, I guess he had like time to kill, right?
[00:48:54] What shall I do? No, I'll become a lawyer. A bit like Kim Kardashian. She was like, I'm so rich. I'm also a [00:49:00] bit bored. Oh no, I've become a lawyer! And she became a lawyer, which I don't think she's passed the bar yet. I think she's tried a bunch of times, she's still not passed. Oh, she'll get round to it. She will.
[00:49:09] She'll just pay someone to set the example for her. Like Rachel doing her SATs.
[00:49:13] Adam Cox: We're assuming that. She could be a very intelligent woman.
[00:49:16] Kyle Risi: Mmm. So, because of how huge the story was, in 1987 they make this little miniseries called The Billionaire Boys Club. And that stars Judd Nelson, who was in The Breakfast Club. This is the show where two brothers joseph and eric got the idea to murder both of their parents in 1996 as a way to inherit their father's estate because They were worried that their dad was going to disinherit him So they pulled like a heady at where they're like, let's kill him Let's then split the money.
[00:49:46] That's where they got the idea , which I mean could be an episode in its own right. Yeah. So of course, more recently, as we mentioned, at the top of the show, there's the 2007 movie starring Kevin Spacey as Ron Levin, [00:50:00] but also it's got Ansel Elgort as Joe, and I think the other guy from the Kingsman, he plays Dean Kearney, who of course is Joe's best friend, and I want to watch it. Really want to watch it.
[00:50:14] Adam Cox: Yeah, sounds interesting. It almost doesn't sound like this is a true story, but it is. It's bizarre.
[00:50:20] Kyle Risi: It would, it makes a brilliant movie.
[00:50:21] Adam Cox: Oh, yeah. You just
[00:50:22] Kyle Risi: know it. But there's also a great little podcast by a little woman that we know. A little woman? Because you're not so little.
[00:50:29] She might be little. It's marsha Clark. She was the prosecuting lawyer for the From OJ, vs OJ. So she has a podcast where she goes into the story and she's actually really good. She, like, she sounds just really Like a professor.
[00:50:47] Adam Cox: Well, she's a lawyer, so she's probably
[00:50:49] Kyle Risi: good at this.
[00:50:50] She's no Kyle and Adam, you know. With all the likes of the um's and the ah's. So, yep, go check those out. We've got the miniseries, we've got the movie, which we're watching [00:51:00] later on, and you've got the Marshall Clarke, Podcast. But other than that, there's very little information around about the story.
[00:51:05] Adam Cox: Yeah, I hadn't heard of it before. Like, the movie maybe rings a bell because of Kevin Spacey being cancelled and I remember vaguely something happening there. But yeah, what a wild story.
[00:51:17] Kyle Risi: Of
[00:51:17] Adam Cox: idiotic boys. Yeah.
[00:51:19] Kyle Risi: And Adam, that is the story of Joe Hunt and the Billionaire Boys Club. Good one. So, if you enjoyed today's Scammer Story on Con Artists, there are a couple other episodes in our back catalogue that you might want to revisit.
[00:51:32] Adam Cox: Which ones, Kyle? Are you going to tell us? I was going to ask you, can any come to mind? No, I don't remember anything that we do. Oh my God. I'm joking, doesn't say Cassie Chadwick, Anna Dalvey, Elizabeth Holmes.
[00:51:42] Kyle Risi: Yeah,
[00:51:43] Adam Cox: there's quite a few.
[00:51:43] Uh, Rudy Kiriwani. Uh huh.
[00:51:45] Kyle Risi: Yeah, all great. So Kiriwani, episode 47, the man who duped the elite with fake fine wines. He was running a bloody wine making factory in his bloody mansion with his old mum baking the wine, essentially, or cooking the wine. [00:52:00] Brilliant podcast episode. Um, uh, Then we've got Anna Delvey from Rags to Riches to Rikers.
[00:52:06] If you'd like a good, scammer story, go check that one out. But probably everyone in the world has listened to that one already. So famous. It's probably one of our most successful. episodes that we've, uh, we've released. Cassie Chadwick, the queen of the con, and then Elizabeth Holmes, another, another con artist as well.
[00:52:21] What episode was that? I don't think that's released yet.
[00:52:23] Adam Cox: Uh, it has. By the time this goes out, it's released. It'll definitely be released.
[00:52:28] Oh, it's, uh, it's that noise again.
[00:52:31] Kyle Risi: It means it's time to hear from my listeners, Adam. You may have noticed there was a new link appearing in our show notes to send a message into the show and we've had a few great messages from your listeners. But actually Adam, this one's an attack on you. Hang on a minute.
[00:52:45] Adam Cox: Let's see what they say first.
[00:52:46] So,
[00:52:47] Kyle Risi: this one comes from VB Steve a now he has a bone to pick with you and this is your chance to clear your name Okay, because in the village people episode you said that Aussies are 10 years [00:53:00] behind everyone else And this seems to have rubbed some of our Australian listeners in the wrong way.
[00:53:07] So we were actually talking about Can't Stop the Music, that weird, stupid musical number that was created by Alan Carr, about the village people's origins. And apparently it did like really well in Australia but flops everywhere else. And you said it's probably because Australia is like 10 years behind. So they thought it was cool when the rest of the world didn't, because Australia were living in the past. Got you. So what did you actually mean?
[00:53:32] Adam Cox: Well, I'm sure there was a point in time maybe before the internet or at least you know where there was Things would take longer to travel across to Australia So they were always a little bit behind on certain things especially when it comes to like even the internet and sort of Uh, the way that we do things, I think, in Europe, but I don't know.
[00:53:52] I'm just here with a woo woo. So I, what am I supposed? What do I know?
[00:53:57] Kyle Risi: I don't think you've justified anything. You've just [00:54:00] spouted shit.
[00:54:01] Adam Cox: There's still, you've still dogged on Australia. It doesn't matter if they're 10 years behind. No, this was a point in time. I'm not saying that as like behind as much now, but there was a point in time where they were a bit behind.
[00:54:11] the UK and America in terms of like fashions and things going with that. I'm sure I've heard this before. If not, I'm wrong.
[00:54:18] Kyle Risi: Well, he did say, and he wants you to very explicitly know, that there's a lot of things in Australia that can kill you and your comments just added another thing to the list.
[00:54:30] Adam Cox: Oh, it was him?
[00:54:31] Kyle Risi: Yep. Well You better watch out. I'm not going to go
[00:54:34] Adam Cox: back to Australia any time soon. just because I've just been.
[00:54:37] Kyle Risi: I thought we were literally talking about potentially murder. Immigrating over to Australia. I don't think they'll have us now. No. They'll look back through every single Podcast episode, they'll find that, and they'll be like, no.
[00:54:46] Adam Cox: I will go through, the security, the check in, at the airport. Mm hmm. And my name will come up, a picture will come up, it'll say, like, he said, Australia's behind the times, and they'll just, like, shoot to kill.
[00:54:56] Kyle Risi: And, no, they'll be like, Before you shoot to kill, just, just [00:55:00] check for eels up his bum.
[00:55:01] Eels? Yeah, because you're obsessed with eels, smuggling eels.
[00:55:04] Adam Cox: No, not eels, um, Oh, just
[00:55:06] Kyle Risi: anything though, just like, just check his butthole or anything. There's more,
[00:55:09] Adam Cox: more otters than beavers.
[00:55:10] Kyle Risi: Just check him. Strip search.
[00:55:13] Adam Cox: Sorry, Australia. I do like, Australia's amazing. Oh my god. Amazing country.
[00:55:17] Kyle Risi: Should we run the outro? Oh,
[00:55:19] let's do
[00:55:19] Adam Cox: it.
[00:55:19] Kyle Risi: And that's another episode for the Compendium Podcast. If you enjoyed today's episode, then please follow on your favorite podcasting app. It really helps us when you do.
[00:55:29] Next week's episode is now available seven days early on our free patreon page You can also subscribe to our certified freaks tier for access to our entire backlog exclusive posts and sneak peeks come over We'd love you to join and have a chat. We release new episodes every tuesday and until then Bye remember, Sometimes, the richest schemes can lead to the poorest decisions. See you next time. See ya. [00:56:00]
