Miami's Indian Creek Country Club Is So Exclusive Even Billionaire Jeff Bezos and Ivanka Trump Can't Join: Report

Wealth alone does not guarantee admission to Miami’s ultra-exclusive Indian Creek Country Club, where a clash between longtime residents and newly arrived tech titans and political figures has left several high-profile billionaires on the outside looking in, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Despite spending a combined $234 million on three properties on the private island, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sánchez have yet to secure a membership invitation.

Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump also remain unadmitted despite years of social maneuvering and their ownership of a 1.26-acre estate on the island.

The nearly century-old country club sits at the center of the 300-acre Indian Creek Island — popularly known as the "Billionaire Bunker.”

It features a private 18-hole golf course, a historic Mediterranean villa clubhouse and a massive initiation fee cited in the range of $300,000 to $600,000. However, an old guard of established members and retirees is actively gatekeeping the club against billionaire newcomers. Membership is by invitation only.

The report indicates the club's established, "old guard" membership is resisting the influx of new tech and political figures.

The club members are notoriously protective of their privacy and generally averse to the public scrutiny, paparazzi and political polarization that follow high-profile figures.

Earlier reports have noted that members are incredibly selective, bluntly warning that the couple "need not apply" due to the political baggage and controversy surrounding the Trump administration.

Candidates must secure formal recommendations from multiple current members.

A strict 15-member board holds ultimate veto power over any applicant.

Several notable figures have deployed distinct strategies to win over the 15-member board, with mixed results.

The Amazon billionaire attended the club’s annual dock party, personally working the room and shaking hands with existing billionaire members like real estate developer Richard LeFrak and former Sears Holdings CEO Eddie Lampert, but failed to secure an invite.

Backed by a high-profile sponsor — Mary Anne Shula, widow of legendary Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula — Kushner and Trump hosted a housewarming party where only half the club board showed up.

Kushner later took a seat on the island's municipal council to help resolve a local infrastructure crisis involving an aging septic system.

“Only about half the club's board even bothered showing up to their own housewarming party," a source told the Journal, signaling a cold shoulder from the decision-makers.

Club insiders note that brokering a compromise for a new sewage pump station across from his home has finally begun to turn the social tide, bringing them "edging ever closer to club membership.”

"It's really rather pathetic that people want to get into a club where they're clearly not wanted, but Jared and Ivanka have been working the Indian Creek crowd for years. Ivanka is so desperate that she forced Jared into serving on the Village council to help broker issues with the club. Maybe he will have better luck there than with Iran. The old guard doesn't want Bezos or the Kushners. Although Indian Creek is its own world, this is still Miami where only one thing matters — money," said one Miami real estate bigwig exclusively to OK! Magazine.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg also owns property in the area but does not hold a membership.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon managed to get in, but only after surviving an organized petition by members attempting to block his bid.

Retired football player Tom Brady is one of the few newer residents who successfully secured a slot inside the club.

Indian Creek Country Club has faced severe scrutiny, high-profile boycotts and public allegations of antisemitism and racism for decades due to its history of excluding Jewish and Black members.

The club denies engaging in formal discrimination. However, extensive reporting by local and national media outlines a well-documented history of systematic exclusion.

Like several other elite South Florida social institutions established in the mid-20th century, Indian Creek operated for decades under a "restricted" social code.

This euphemism meant that Black and Jewish individuals were historically barred from membership and were historically only permitted on the grounds as employees or guests.

Former club president Wayne Becker admitted in 2000 that "there is not a lot of enthusiasm for bringing in Jewish members" and that the board actively resisted change.

The club's exclusionary culture caused significant political fallout. In 1999, President Bill Clinton faced intense criticism from civil rights groups for golfing at Indian Creek.

In 2000, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush canceled his scheduled tee time at the club in protest after being briefed on its exclusionary practices by the island's Jewish mayor.

Furthermore, high-profile members — such as former Knight Ridder Chairman Alvah H. Chapman Jr.— resigned their own memberships specifically to protest the club's prejudice against Jews and Black people.

Following a high-profile media fallout reported by the Wall Street Journal, "club officials denied they discriminate" against minority groups.

They maintained that their admissions process evaluates applicants based on private social standards, character references, and internal board approval rather than institutionalized exclusion.