‘Billionaire Boys’ Case Goes to Jury

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — A jury began deciding Friday whether two members of a group of rich young men from Beverly Hills called the Billionaire Boys Club kidnaped and murdered an Iranian exile in a bungled plot to steal his fortune.

The jury of eight women and four men was sent into deliberations by San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Robert Miller. The jurors were not expected to emerge with a verdict until sometime next week, if they reach agreement in the state’s case against Arben Dosti and Reza Eslaminia, both 26, of Los Angeles.

They are charged with conspiring with Joe Hunt, the leader of the Southern California club, and his bodyguard, James Pittman, in the July 30, 1984, kidnaping of Eslaminia’s father, Hedayat Eslaminia, of nearby Belmont. The Iranian exile died in what prosecutors said was a botched extortion attempt.

Hunt was convicted last year of murdering Beverly Hills con artist Ron Levin, who prosecutors said was killed because he out-conned Hunt in an extortion attempt. Pitman later pleaded guilty to being an accessory to murder after the fact in the killing of Levin, whose body was never found. Both await trial in the Eslaminia case.