Joe Hunt Was the Architect of the Billionaire Boys Club — Then He Became a Murderer

If you cast your minds back to 2018, you might have a vague recollection of a failed movie called Billionaire Boys Club. It starred Ansel Elgort as Joe Hunt, a charismatic grifter who created a Ponzi scheme to support his love of spending and status.

It was set in the opulent world of 1980s Los Angeles, where the preppy, handsome Hunt could easily find his prey.

The movie cost $15 million and grossed a little over $2 million worldwide. Like the story it was based on, the movie was a big flop. The Billionaire Boys Club was very real and went far beyond scamming folks out of their savings.

This particular Ponzi scheme turned deadly when, ironically, Hunt himself was the victim of deceit. Where is he now? Here's what we know.

According to Spectrum News 13, in 1987, Hunt was convicted of murder and was subsequently sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Hunt is currently serving his time at the California Healthcare Facility, which is a state prison for inmates who have long-term medical needs.

He is in his mid-60s and has spent more than half his life behind bars.

A Free Joe Hunt website goes into detail about the killer's life in prison. Evidently, Hunt has found spirituality and is a follower of the Ananda Church, which is "dedicated to helping individuals live in joy through meditation, yoga philosophy, community, and selfless service."

With his sister's help, Hunt raised $1 million for the church. He has also advocated for prisoners who need medical assistance.

In his own words, Hunt described becoming a "founding member of the first men’s group in a California prison" in 1996. They were first held at California State Prison at Sacramento and involved guiding the men as they look at their own emotional responses to life. "A man does work, with the aid of the circle, and typically one of the men facilitates," explained Hunt.

These meetings eventually became the subject of a documentary filmed after Hunt was transferred out of that prison.

Hunt grew up in a lower-middle-class family in Van Nuys, California, but was able to use his brains to get into the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School, a college-preparatory school in Los Angeles.

"Joe was always out to prove himself better and smarter than the rich kids," one classmate told Esquire.

Hunt ran into two former classmates in 1980, a few years after they graduated, and blew them out of the water. It took Hunt less than two years to graduate from USC, and this was after he became the youngest person in the country to pass the C.P.A. exam.

He already had a job trading commodities.

This chance meeting led to the creation of the Billionaire Boys Club, which involved rich kids creating shell corporations with money that Hunt would then trade. They relied on new cash infusions to keep the con going, hence the Ponzi scheme. In 1983, Hunt met 42-year-old Ronald Levin, who was a fraudster in his own right.

In the summer of 1984, Levin had used his not-quite-legit production company to sell the idea of a series on commodities trading. To do this, Levin set up a dummy account and put a little more than $5 million in it.

Hunt got that up to $13.5 million in six weeks. This didn't work out. Levin ultimately fleeced Hunt and the rest of the BBC out of everything.

Prosecutors later argued that Hunt killed Levin out of rage and humiliation. Hunt maintains that Levin, a career con man, faked his own death. Levin's body was never found.