Dean Karny was the second-in-command of the Billionaire Boys Club, Joe Hunt’s Los Angeles investment fraternity, and he became the prosecution’s star witness against Hunt and other members after admitting his own role in two 1984 killings. In exchange for his testimony, California prosecutors gave him full immunity for both murders, helped him with regulators and with admission to the State Bar, and placed him in the federal witness protection program under a new identity. He has lived under that identity ever since.
Who He Was Inside the Billionaire Boys Club
Joe Hunt founded the Billionaire Boys Club in Los Angeles in 1982. It drew roughly 30 members, most of them sons of wealthy Southern California families and alumni of a North Hollywood prep school, and it presented itself as a fraternity and investment club while running as a Ponzi-style operation that eventually bilked about 80 outside investors out of $1.6 million.1Time. Bad Boys Investors Who Went for Broke
Karny, the son of a Los Angeles real estate developer and a law school graduate, was Hunt’s closest confidant and operational right hand.2Los Angeles Times. Key Member of Billionaire Boys Club Testifies That position put him inside the planning of both killings that would define the group.
What He Admitted Doing in the Ron Levin Murder
Beverly Hills businessman Ron Levin disappeared on June 6, 1984. Prosecutors alleged Hunt killed him after learning that a $5 million commodities account Levin had provided was a hoax, and that a supposed $13 million profit had never existed.3CBS News. Billionaire Boys Club Joe Hunt Seeks Parole
From the witness stand, Karny said he and Hunt planned what they believed would be the “perfect crime,” a plan “so brilliantly conceived and so detailed that even if a few of us stuck to the story, we would be able to create a reasonable doubt in the mind of any jury.”4New York Times. Witness Says Club Founder Directed Murder of Beverly Hills Man According to his testimony, Hunt and bodyguard Jim Pittman went to Levin’s home on June 7, 1984, forced Levin to sign a $1.5 million check and an option agreement, and then Pittman shot Levin in the back of the head with a silencer-equipped pistol. Hunt later told him they wrapped the body in a bedspread, drove it to Soledad Canyon, and disfigured it with a shotgun to prevent identification.5Los Angeles Times. Karny Testifies in Hunt Trial
Karny also admitted he helped compile the seven-page handwritten “to-do” list found in Levin’s home, with instructions such as “closed blinds, scan for tape recorder, tape mouth, handcuff, put gloves on” and “kill dog.”3CBS News. Billionaire Boys Club Joe Hunt Seeks Parole His fingerprints were on the list, which also included a map of Soledad Canyon and the notation “Jim digs pit.”5Los Angeles Times. Karny Testifies in Hunt Trial He testified that he intended to provide Hunt with an alibi for the night of the killing. Levin’s body has never been found.
What He Admitted Doing in the Eslaminia Kidnapping
Less than two months later, the group carried out a second killing. Hedayat Eslaminia was a 56-year-old former Iranian government official who had fled to the United States after the fall of the Shah. His son Reza, a BBC associate, told fellow members his father had brought roughly $30 million from Iran.6Findlaw. Eslaminia v. White
Karny testified that the plan was to abduct Hedayat, hold him in a West Los Angeles basement, and force him to sign over his fortune before killing him.7Los Angeles Times. Dosti and Eslaminia Found Guilty On July 30, 1984, Karny, Hunt, Pittman, and Arben “Ben” Dosti traveled to Belmont, California, where Hedayat lived. Karny and Reza waited outside while Hunt and others beat Hedayat and locked him inside a large steamer trunk.6Findlaw. Eslaminia v. White Karny said he heard shrieks during the abduction.
The trunk was loaded into a vehicle for the drive to Los Angeles. During the trip, Karny testified, he and Dosti taped over air holes he had earlier punched into the trunk in order to muffle Eslaminia’s screams, and Eslaminia suffocated. Hunt disposed of the body in a remote area. Karny later led investigators to the skeletal remains in Soledad Canyon, in the Angeles National Forest.7Los Angeles Times. Dosti and Eslaminia Found Guilty
The Immunity Deal
By the fall of 1984, with police investigating Levin’s disappearance, Karny grew afraid of being charged. He developed physical symptoms of stress, hired an attorney, and contacted police.2Los Angeles Times. Key Member of Billionaire Boys Club Testifies In exchange for cooperating, he was granted broad immunity from prosecution for his role in both murders and a related assault charge.6Findlaw. Eslaminia v. White
The deal went well beyond avoiding prison. State authorities promised to help the law school graduate gain admission to the California Bar.2Los Angeles Times. Key Member of Billionaire Boys Club Testifies Prosecutors interceded with the SEC over investigations into BBC-related fraud, and FBI officials told the Commodity Futures Trading Commission of his cooperation to shield him from regulatory consequences.8Free Joe Hunt. Ninth Circuit Appeal Excerpts of Record He was placed in the California witness protection program and then accepted into the federal program, given a new identity, and kept under armed guard at an undisclosed location.5Los Angeles Times. Karny Testifies in Hunt Trial
What His Testimony Produced
Karny’s account was the centerpiece of the prosecution’s case against Hunt for the Levin murder. Hunt’s defense argued that Levin had faked his own death to escape pending fraud charges and produced witnesses who claimed to have seen him alive afterward. The jury rejected that theory. On April 22, 1987, Hunt was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery and sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.9Los Angeles Times. Hunt Convicted of Levin Murder
In the Eslaminia case, Karny was again the key witness. On January 25, 1988, a San Mateo County jury convicted Arben Dosti and Reza Eslaminia of second-degree murder, kidnapping for extortion, and conspiracy.7Los Angeles Times. Dosti and Eslaminia Found Guilty Defense counsel Tom Nolan attacked Karny at length, arguing he had lied on the stand to protect himself and that the real participants in the abduction were Karny, Hunt, and Pittman rather than his clients.10UPI. Key Witness Against Two Billionaire Boys Club Members
Attacks on His Credibility
Karny’s deal and conduct became recurring targets on appeal. In Eslaminia v. White, Reza Eslaminia’s lawyers argued that the trial court had improperly suppressed three categories of impeachment evidence: that Karny had been a suspect in an unrelated 1986 murder, that prosecutors had agreed to intervene for him in an SEC civil action, and that he had allegedly committed perjury on his application for admission to the State Bar of California.6Findlaw. Eslaminia v. White
The 1986 case involved Richard Mayer, a 21-year-old whose decomposed body was found on October 18, 1986, stuffed in a trunk in a room at the Hollywood Center Motel.11Los Angeles Times. BBC Criminal Cases Overview A credit card receipt bearing the name “Karny” and letters implicating him were found in the room. Police confirmed his name had surfaced in the investigation, but the state attorney general’s office later said he could not have been near the crime scene, and he was cleared as a suspect.12Los Angeles Times. Karny Investigated in Hollywood Murder The unsolved Mayer case still figured in later arguments that he needed the protection of a concealed identity.13SFGate. Murder Defense Wants Witness Secrets Revealed
Hunt separately argued on habeas corpus that prosecutors had committed misconduct by failing to disclose the full extent of the help given to Karny, particularly the intercession with the CFTC. A court ruled Hunt was not prejudiced because the jury already knew Karny had testified under a grant of immunity.8Free Joe Hunt. Ninth Circuit Appeal Excerpts of Record
How His Hidden Identity Collapsed the Eslaminia Retrial
In 1998, the Ninth Circuit overturned the murder convictions of both Reza Eslaminia and Dosti, finding that jurors in the 1988 trial had been exposed to an unadmitted tape recording of a police interview with the victim’s brother, Ali Eslaminia, and that the exposure had a “substantial and injurious effect” on the verdict.6Findlaw. Eslaminia v. White
Dosti pleaded guilty to manslaughter and kidnapping in August 2000 and was sentenced to time served, roughly 12 years and 8 months, plus four years of probation.14SFGate. Billionaire Boys Club Defendant Sued
Reza Eslaminia never faced a retrial. By 1999, Karny had spent 13 years in the federal witness protection program and refused to disclose his new identity or current address, saying he feared for his life.13SFGate. Murder Defense Wants Witness Secrets Revealed The defense moved to compel disclosure of information about his life during those years, arguing it could not effectively cross-examine a witness whose identity was hidden. On November 6, 2000, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Carl Holm agreed. He ruled that Reza Eslaminia’s constitutional right to confront his accuser could not be satisfied if the defense could not challenge Karny’s credibility about his activities over the preceding 14 years, including allegations that he had made fraudulent statements on his State Bar application. Because both sides agreed the case turned entirely on Karny’s testimony, the judge dismissed the murder and kidnapping charges.15Los Angeles Times. Case Against Eslaminia Dismissed Reports at the time said that while in the program Karny had become a licensed attorney and a member of the California State Bar.16SFGate. Charges in Famed Death Dropped
Where He Is Now
Karny admitted to participating in the planning and execution of two killings, to helping compile the “to-do” list for the Levin murder, and to helping tape over the air holes in the trunk that suffocated Hedayat Eslaminia. In return, he walked free, received government help building a legal career, and disappeared into a new life. Hunt and his supporters have long pointed to that disparity, characterizing the BBC members who testified against Hunt as compromised witnesses who redirected blame to save themselves.17SFGate. Billionaire Boys Club Bounces Back Prosecutors, for their part, got from him the testimony and the physical evidence, most critically the location of Hedayat Eslaminia’s body, that made the cases possible. The last public record of Karny places him still living under a concealed identity in the witness protection program, his whereabouts unknown.