The richest people in the universe are used to getting what they want on account of their gargantuan piles of money. Want to buy access to a president? No problem. A storied football club? It’s yours. A sizable portion of Hawaii? Just write the check. The collective intelligence of humanity? You got it, babe. So in the rare circumstances in which the Über-wealthy can’tjust plonk down their money to get whatever they desire, it’s actual news.
That was the case over the weekend when The Wall Street Journalreported that Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos — the third-richest person in the world — have yet to be invited to join the exclusive Indian Creek Country Club in Miami despite owning $234 million worth of property on Indian Creek Island, where the club is located. That’s also despite having been “special guests” at the club’s annual dock party in February, which Bezos reportedly attended “hoping to persuade board members to admit him to the club,” and having “worked the scene, engaging in small talk with members,” i.e., the sort of thing only low-net-worth plebes should have to do.
Unfortunately for Bezos and Sánchez, the very fact of their obscene wealth and fame may be keeping the gates of membership closed to them thus far. As the Journal reported, “As with many private country clubs, admission often comes down to hitting it off with existing members. And while social status and widespread name recognition can help, they are hardly a guarantee, according to some people connected to the club. In fact, too much wealth or notoriety has become a deterrent, as wealthy new applicants arriving in Florida are learning.”
In fact, “old guard” members are apparently so turned off by what they see as “billionaire interlopers” that they are said to be “mounting a last stand” and refusing to “offer membership to just anyone who has struck it rich.” To be clear, there is not a single person who belongs to Indian Creek Country Club that is not absurdly wealthy, it’s just that in comparison to people like Bezos, they seem middle class.
That probably chafes for the couple who took over an Italian city for their wedding, but they may not be shut out forever. On Tuesday, the New York Postreported that Bezos and Sanchez “will likely be accepted into the ultra-exclusive Indian Creek Country Club eventually” — as long as they grovel and mingle with the (relative) hoi polloi a while longer. “No one is going to make it easy because he is Jeff Bezos,” a source told the outlet. “You have to go to mixers. You don’t just move there and think you can get in.”
Bezos and Sánchez are not the only deep-pocketed duo living on the Miami island — known as the “Billionaire Bunker” — who have yet to score an invite for membership. There’s also Mark Zuckerberg, who dropped $170 million on a waterfront estate last year; the Qatari royal family; and one Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. (In a turn of events that’s likely to sting, the Journal noted that both Tom Brady and the founder of Jersey Mike’s “had no trouble getting into the club.”) The First Daughter and Son-in-Law were even sponsored for membership by Mary Anne Shula, the widow of Dolphins coach Don Shula, who threw a cocktail party for the express purpose of introducing the couple to the club’s board members. “But when the Kushners hosted a housewarming cocktail party at their own compound, only about half the board showed up,” and “while some board members were out of town, the signal still seemed clear: The Kushners weren’t about to get in.”
Javanka, though, is apparently not giving up without a fight. And a willingness to engage with literal effluent may be their ticket to the inside.
