The venerable Hillcrest Nation Membership, a traditionally Jewish group for residents as soon as banned from different elite L.A. social golf equipment, is being sued by the son of a onetime Bel-Air billionaire who alleges racial discrimination and civil rights violations.
Matthew Winnick, a 42-year-old Jewish man, claims in courtroom papers he was denied membership into the non-public membership as a result of his spouse and their kids are of “Hispanic heritage.”
His attorneys, brother Alexander Winnick and Anthony Trujillo, label Hillcrest a “150-acre plantation within the coronary heart of Los Angeles,” the place its greater than 500 members are shielded from the true racial make-up of the town and nepotism results in those that don’t meet the socially acceptable necessities for membership.
The Winnicks are the sons of the late billionaire Gary Winnick, who rode the dot-com increase to turn into considered one of L.A.’s richest folks. Gary Winnick was a longtime member of Hillcrest, which has been common with film moguls, enterprise tycoons and a number of celebrities, together with George Burns and Danny Kaye.
Membership lawyer Lyne Richardson stated the lawsuit “is totally with out advantage,” including: “Hillcrest Nation Membership intends to defend itself totally.”
Bryan Freedman, an lawyer for Hillcrest’s president and two different board members named within the lawsuit, additionally scoffed on the allegations, calling them frivolous.
“The late Gary Winnick, a long-term member, confirmed up on the ‘racist’ membership usually till the time of his passing,” Freedman stated in an electronic mail to The Instances. “When Gary lately handed away, his household (which incorporates the plaintiff, Matthew Winnick, and his brother, Alex Winnick, the lawyer on this case) asks to host the memorial at Hillcrest, the identical place they’re claiming is the ‘discriminatory’ membership.
“Sounds to me like … what actually appears to upset them [Matthew and Alex] is that they may not get into Hillcrest regardless of the alleged nepotism coverage.”
The lawsuit argues that the membership is violating the state’s civil rights regulation and, as a result of it will get funds from nonmembers, can also be topic to a 1987 Los Angeles ordinance barring discrimination at such amenities.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, husband of Vice President Kamala Harris and an avid golfer, has had a membership at Hillcrest. Winnick’s lawsuit opens with a quote from the vp: “In instances like this, silence is complicity.”
The plaintiff says within the swimsuit that he was granted entry to the membership as an intermediate member for a few years and paid for that privilege. In February 2023, he says he utilized for full membership. In keeping with the lawsuit, he met all three standards: 100 hours of neighborhood service, giving 5% of his accessible money move to charity and being deemed socially acceptable as an individual of excellent ethical character.
The next month, Winnick and his household attended a birthday celebration with Jason Kaplan, a prime Hillcrest board member and now membership president. Winnick alleges within the lawsuit that Kaplan, who knew his spouse and youngsters have been Latino, yelled ¡Cállate! — “shut up” in Spanish — throughout the desk at him.
In keeping with the lawsuit, Winnick was “alarmed, confused, embarrassed by Jason Kaplan’s impolite interruption” and later confronted him. Kaplan advised him, “You wish to mess with me,” the lawsuit states.
In April, Winnick wrote to Hillcrest’s membership director “detailing his issues about racial discrimination” and interference along with his utility and stated he believed he was being handled in another way due to his spouse’s “Hispanic descent.” Apart from his interplay with Kaplan, Winnick alleged that earlier membership President Michael Flesch had blocked his participation in a membership sub-committee.
Kaplan, Flesch and Brad Fuller, one other member of the Hillcrest board, are named within the lawsuit. Kaplan, a widely known capital fund supervisor, is accused of constructing “racist remarks” and committing an unspecified sexual assault, which isn’t detailed within the lawsuit. Flesch is accused of utilizing his place within the membership to get his son membership — regardless of his son’s acknowledged historical past of drug dependancy. And Fuller, a longtime Hollywood producer behind films comparable to “The Purge” and “The Texas Chainsaw Bloodbath,” has “constructed his profession on creating pornographic and violent movies that glorify homicide and reinforce dangerous stereotypes,” the lawsuit alleges.
Winnick says that as a substitute of investigating his issues, the membership knowledgeable him on Could 1 he had not glad the requirement for membership and terminated his utility.
At a listening to at Hillcrest to debate his membership, Winnick stated that Trujillo, who’s Latino and his brother’s regulation associate, was denied entry to the membership regardless of the presence of six different present or former attorneys.
Flesch insisted through the listening to that Hillcrest has many members of Latino descent, in accordance with the lawsuit.
Winnick, nevertheless, argues within the lawsuit that Hillcrest is overwhelmingly white, pays an embarrassing low property tax — solely a few quarter of 1,000,000 {dollars} on property that in any other case could be taxed at round $70 million yearly — and has no need or incentive to vary.
“Hillcrest is a racial aristocracy, backed by the town,” the lawsuit alleges.
The swimsuit consists of social scientist Malcolm Gladwell’s evaluation that L.A.’s nation membership golf programs have used particular carve-outs which have allowed them to keep away from thousands and thousands of {dollars} in property taxes and haven’t been reassessed in a long time as a result of, regardless of altering membership, the golf equipment declare to haven’t modified possession.
Winnick alleges the one minorities at most nation golf equipment are the predominately Latino workers. The lawsuit additionally notes that Hillcrest didn’t admit girls till 1987, the 12 months Los Angeles adopted a brand new regulation addressing discrimination by non-public golf equipment with greater than 400 members that obtain cash from nonmembers.
“There’s a group of people that run Hillcrest as their private fiefdom, violating the essential rules of equity and fairness,” Alex Winnick stated in an announcement to The Instances concerning the lawsuit. “Change is overdue.”
Freedman advised The Instances the three Hillcrest members named in Winnick’s swimsuit will pursue their very own authorized motion. “Make no mistake,” Freedman stated, “Brad Fuller, Jason Kaplan and Michael Flesch will file a lawsuit for malicious prosecution.”
