NEWSSteve Bing Spent $600 Million On Women, Movies, Gambling and ... Bill Clinton
"If I was worth only $50 million, I would kill myself," Steve Bing joked several years ago to Heidi Fleiss. However, the joke unfortunately came true in June after he jumped off his Los Angeles balcony. Bing inherited $600 million from his grandfather when he was 18 years old and spent the money on women, movies, gambling and Bill Clinton.
Alana Hamilton Stewart told The Post that "If it’s true that he spent the money, I find it remarkable." He was reported to have $300,000 in liquid assets at the time of his death.
Fleiss said that he spent a minimum of $10,000 per prostitute and would give women with business ideas $250,000.
"That was every day for Steve — people coming by to ask for money. Everyone liked him because from no one else would you get the kind of money he handed out," Stewart explained.
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"Steve was given a lot and he spent it all on other people" a spokesperson for Jerry Lee Lewis, Zach Farnum, said. As a fan of the musician, Bing helped straighten out his finances and health in 2000 and even "coordinated" a hip replacement for the rockstar.
Bing was also close to the Clintons. He reportedly donated $25 million to the Clinton Foundation in 2008 and then for the former President’s birthday, he bought him an almost $85,000 sculpture by Bob Dylan. He also spent $200,000 to fly Clinton to North Korea on his Boeing 737 in 2009, in order to facilitate the liberation of American journalists who were being held there.
"He spent a lot on political stuff and films," a source told The Post. "Putting money into movies is never good. Even if you get lucky a few times, you will get your ass handed to you."
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Bing never amounted to much success in the film world. "When you inherit your money, you need validation. And what is more validating than seeing your name on a big screen?" the source said. He produced films such Rock the Kasbah and Rules Don’t Apply. He lost eight figures when he financed films, such as Night at the Golden Eagle, which made $18,000 at the box office after a $1 million budget. The most notable film he financed, with a reported $85 million investment that succeeded was the Polar Express in 2004.
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"He loved to gamble," Scott Rosenberg told the Hollywood Reporter. Bing would get "the sickest high-roller suite … and put these chips in front of you and you felt terrible when you lost his money. But you always had a good time."
In 2008, he launched a "green" construction firm called Shangri-La. However, according to sources, an employee embezzled from him. "It cost Bing 10s of millions of dollars," a source said. He tried to resolve the matter in private but "did not get back everything."
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After he inherited the money, he dropped out of Stanford University to pursue a career in Hollywood.
Following Bing's tragic death in June, the 55-year-old's will was a debatable topic. His children, Damien Hurley and Kira Kerkorian, were not in the will as it was drawn up before Hurley was born and before he knew of Kerkorian.
"Whether or not such child is mine, it is my intention not to provide in this Will for such child (or any other child as to which I may be the father) in this Will or for the offspring of any such child or children, whether now living or hereafter born," he wrote.
He later formed relationships with both children and won them a spot in their grandfather's trust.
