Damon Lawner, the founder of an exclusive Beverly Hills sex club, says his life and career were dismantled after he publicly ousted Hunter Biden for allegedly breaking the venue's strict conduct rules.
The Night That Changed Everything
In an exclusive interview, Lawner described Hunter Biden's sole visit to the SNCTM club, also known as Sanctum, in 2018 as being like that of an over-eager child in a sweet shop. However, the former First Son's enthusiasm allegedly crossed a firm line. Lawner claims Biden, visiting between marriages, broke the club's cardinal rule by 'grabbing asses and any other female body parts he could latch on to' without consent, targeting the partners of other high-profile members.
Lawner, who voted for Joe Biden in 2020, confronted the president's son and later banned him. He then took the decisive step of publicly naming him in 2022. 'By outing Hunter, I didn't just anger one person, I angered a protected ecosystem,' Lawner told the Daily Mail. 'Hollywood is tribal, and I broke ranks.'
A Swift and Severe Backlash
The consequences for Lawner were immediate and severe. He was banned from the very club he founded in 2013, a venue inspired by the secret society in Stanley Kubrick's film Eyes Wide Shut. The club's statement to the Los Angeles Times confirmed his lifetime ban for an 'infringement' of their code of conduct.
'The response wasn't subtle,' Lawner revealed. 'I was frozen out socially, and I was quietly blacklisted by people who had relied on my discretion for years. Work dried up. Relationships ended. Trust disappeared.' He claims former clients, fearing for their own privacy, stopped returning his calls.
His elite social circle, which had included politicians, billionaires, and A-list celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk, evaporated. He says a scripted series based on his life, developed by Falchuk, failed to sell because his story had become 'too radioactive'.
Wider Context and Lasting Fallout
The incident occurred against a backdrop of intense media scrutiny of Hunter Biden's personal life during his father's presidency. An IRS whistleblower later told Congress that Biden had deducted a $10,000 payment to a sex club, identified as SNCTM, from his taxes. President Biden later issued his son a full and unconditional pardon for gun and tax charges just weeks before leaving office.
Lawner, who became a millionaire through the club's exclusive parties where memberships reportedly cost up to $75,000, says the last year has been spent 'moving between couches and floors'. Politically disillusioned, he did not vote in the 2024 election.
His plans now involve launching a new event brand, Aura, but he acknowledges the Hollywood power players who once frequented SNCTM will not be involved. 'This isn't a statement,' he notes. 'It's simply how things now stand.'
