Billionaires: they're not just like us.
Something happens when you reach a certain level of wealth.
The jets become private.
The apartments become penthouses.
And the parties get real epic real fast.
Here are the secret parties billionaires don't want you to know about.
In the hanky-panky filled parties of Silicon Valley, dinner comes first, usually prepared
by the host to avoid the prying eyes of cooks and cleaners.
Social media is strictly forbidden, for obvious reasons.
Then the drugs come out.
MDMA seems to be the top choice, although it's far from the only offering.
The guests break off into groups of two, three, or more, usually for "cuddle puddles," a cute
way to describe a gang of groping millionaires and billionaires.
From there things get really freaky.
The mostly-male bigwigs of Silicon Valley have these drug-fueled love parties on the
regular, bringing in a bevy of young women from anywhere they can get their hands on
them.
And get their hands on them they do, often with their wives and girlfriends right beside
them.
These men tend to be the wealthy tycoons behind some of the biggest brands in the world.
As Emily Chang, author of the book Brotopia, describes it, they like to treat these parties
as extensions of their world-changing professional philosophies by overturning traditions in
their private lives.
In the end, that means a boatload of hookups in private mansions, estates, and yachts the
world over.
You won't find a lot of Carvel ice cream cake at a billionaire's birthday party.
Even Jay-Z and Beyonce dropped $200,000 on their daughter Blue Ivy's first birthday.
Businessman Ronald Perelman likes to celebrate his on a 188-foot yacht in the warm waters
of St. Barts, often flying in famous folks like Barry Manilow to sing him "Happy Birthday."
Retail tycoon Philip Green once surprised 100 of his friends with a last-minute trip
to the Maldives for his 55th.
And that's nothing compared to Jho Low, the Malaysian billionaire who turned his 31st
birthday into the biggest bash Las Vegas had ever seen, even though no one was quite sure
who he was.
Low built what looked like an aircraft hangar on a vacant plot of land and then filled it
up with some of the world's biggest stars.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Kanye West, and Kim Kardashian were there, along with a Ferris wheel, carousel,
circus trampoline, and cigar lounge.
Jamie Foxx hosted, with performances by Britney Spears, Q-Tip, and Chris Brown.
To end the night, a giant fireworks show exploded over the Nevada desert.
Henry Nicholas, the founder of the tech company Broadcom, turned a warehouse in California
into a neverending adult fantasy room.
The personal pleasure pad was reportedly stocked to the brim with cocaine, meth, and ecstasy,
along with cutting-edge technology, making it the ultimate spot to hang with his friends
and an endless rotation of ladies of the night.
And when that wasn't good enough, Nicholas allegedly hired a construction team to covertly
connect the place to his home through underground passageways.
This shouldn't come as a shock to the folks who know anything about him.
He used to secretly spike his colleagues' drinks with ecstasy, and he once smoked so
much marijuana on his private plane that the pilot was forced to put on an oxygen mask.
Unfortunately, at least for Nicholas, it all came tumbling down when he was arrested for
his Caligula-esque lifestyle, along with a laundry list of securities fraud.
He was acquitted of all charges, but his rap sheet still isn't a great look for him.
The Cannes Film Festival is a lot of things, from a glamorous party to an over-the-top
trade convention.
Hollywood heavyweights cut deals and schmooze with their favorite movie stars.
But for the working girls who fly in, it's a bit of a goldmine.
Thousands of women flock to the fest every year, from high-end call girls charging in
the thousands to streetwalkers plying their trade for 50 bucks.
But find the right john, and you can hit it big.
Some of the women have been reportedly known to make $40,000 a night.
According to a Lebanese businessman who described the scene to The Hollywood Reporter, there
are about 30 or 40 luxury yachts in the bay during the festival each year.
Each boat is filled with about ten women, plus drugs and alcohol.
And apparently this has all been going for the past 60 years.
The 2012 Kappa Beta Phi dinner, a secret gathering of Wall Street royalty, began with the address:
The dinner was designed as an ultra-exclusive financial community fraternity at the dawn
of the Great Depression.
Kevin Roose, author of the book Young Money, described it as a "sort of one-percenters
Friars Club."
It's a chance for some of the richest men in the world to shut the doors and let loose.
It may be the only place you can see literal billionaires perform sexist and homophobic
skits and sing lame song parodies about how rich they are.
As Roose put it,
Roose snuck into the 2012 festivities, and when he was discovered, none other than Wilbur
Ross acted as a one-man bouncer and dragged him out.
The black tie dinner isn't for prying eyes.
"It sounds like something Occupy Wall Street would invent if they wanted people to hate
bankers even more."
Burning Man may be full of trust fund kids and millionaires, but it's always gone out
of its way to shun showy signs of its own wealth.
Not so for Further Future, the offshoot festival designed for and by the uber-wealthy.
If you've always wanted to be a Burner but also have access to top notch lavender lattes,
this is the spot for you.
It's website lists "unabashed luxury" as one of its primary goals, and its guests won't
be disappointed.
Beyond the VIP fencing sit Airstreams and "Lunar Palaces" going for thousands of dollars
per night, often fully staffed with personal valets and private chefs.
If that's not good enough, Nobu offers $250-a-seat dinners, or you can just take part in something
called a "smudging aura cleansing."
Saline and vitamin transfusions are available, and there's a beer and foie gras au torchon
tasting.
Dressed in the "steampunk futurism" style that's the official aesthetic of the festival,
entrepreneurs and tech billionaires mingle, cutting deals between wellness panels.
So let the Burners eat cake; this is where the powerful come to play.
As Mel Brooks once said,
"It's good to be the king."
In Saudi Arabia, it's good to be one of the kingdom's 10,000 princes, flush with cash
and a lack of concern for their family's oppressive rules.
Why else would a deeply religious theocracy look the other way as its royal class hosts
decadent parties, breaking every law in the books?
One Saudi prince named Faisal is a second-tier "Cadet" prince, which is about as far from
the throne as you can get, but he still enjoys all the perks and privileges of princehood.
His epic 2009 Halloween party, whose details were revealed in a leaked diplomatic cable,
is still the talk of the town.
Alcohol was plentiful at the party's bar, despite being prohibited by Saudi law and
custom.
There were also plenty of working girls among the guests, which is allegedly not uncommon
at such parties.
A guest list determined who made it inside the exclusive affair.
The scene resembled a nightclub, with alcohol, dancing, a DJ at the turntables, and guests
in costume.
It's a good thing Saudi Arabia just lifted its ban on female drivers, so that next time
Prince Faisal can invite even more single ladies.
According to a spokesperson for Bohemian Grove, the mysterious annual retreat of political
power players in Northern California, the club is nothing more than a chance to "share
a passion for the outdoors, music, and theater."
But then again, this is where the early planning for the Manhattan Project took place, so it
might not be all fresh air and camp songs.
No outsiders really know for certain what this place really is, but when former president
Bill Clinton was asked about it, he said:
"That's where all those rich Republicans go out and stand naked against redwood trees,
right?"
Spy magazine reporter Philip Weiss managed to sneak into Bohemian Grove back in 1989
and then reported on the handful of rules he encountered.
Basically, they were: don't do business, don't pee on the trees, and always be drunk.
Only the last rule was strictly enforced, though.
Inside the campgrounds, he found powerful men making powerful decisions over copious
amounts of alcohol.
In one notable bit of Bohemian Grove history, in the summer of 1968, Ronald Reagan reportedly
agreed not to primary Richard Nixon as the two mingled there.
At the 2018 President Club Charity Dinner at London's Dorchester Hotel, host Jonny Gould
declared,
That may actually be an understatement.
Supposedly a fundraiser for a variety of English charities, the real purpose of this men's-only
gathering seems to be a bit more nefarious.
British power players from the worlds of finance, politics, and business gather every year to
throw their money around, imbibe, and leer at the scantily clad hostesses.
In fact, that last part seems to be the main purpose of the party.
Hostesses are hired based on their looks and then ordered to wear black underwear to better
match the skimpy outfits they're given upon arrival.
Once their phones are confiscated, they're given drinks to loosen them up and then paraded
out for the men to gawk at.
This was reported by Madison Marriage of the Financial Times, who went to the dinner undercover.
Hands are slipped up skirts, bottoms are pinched.
Drunken men dive in for kisses and ask women if they're actually sex workers.
The bathrooms are even monitored and the women are timed to make sure they don't just go
and hide.
Keep in mind that this is a charity event, with prizes including lunch with former London
Mayor Boris Johnson and the proceeds going to places like a prominent children's hospital.
In the wake of the Times report, future iterations have been canceled.
When you're a billionaire, you don't take no for an answer, especially not when it comes
to your wedding.
That's how Napster creator Sean Parker found himself among the redwoods of Big Sur, California
back in 2013, celebrating the most lavish wedding this country's ever seen.
No expense was spared.
Over months, crews built an artificial pond, a bridge, rock staircases, fake stone castle
ruins, and a 20-foot-tall wrought iron gate with the couple's initials.
The costume designer for the Lord of the Rings movies created Tolkien-themed outfits for
all 364 guests, including Sean Lennon, Emma Watson, and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Bunnies were handed out to cuddle with.
Animal furs were draped on chairs and full beds.
Pigs were roasted on a spit, and Sting sang in front of a 9-foot-tall wedding cake.
It was said to cost between $5 million and $10 million.
But then the bad press set in, and the legal issues started.
One website called it an "eco-wrecking wedding," and Parker was forced to write an apology.
The wedding was hosted at a luxury hotel whose owners had failed to apply for the appropriate
permits.
But billionaires don't get in real trouble, not for long at least.
Parker paid a fine and agreed to design an app for California as restitution.
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