An employee from the exclusive Bohemian Grove men’s retreat claimed that billionaire Bill Koch asked him to ‘hand wash his underwear.’ 

Bohemian Grove is an exclusive 2,700-acre campsite on Bohemian Avenue, Sonoma County, California, which hosts the men’s-only Bohemian Club.

Every July there is a camp on the site for over a fortnight attended by some of earth’s most influential men from politics, culture and business.

Shawn Granger, Anthony Gregg, and Wallid Saad filed a lawsuit citing wage theft during their tenure at the club, with the case gaining attention due to some astonishing allegations. 

The lawsuit addressed violations of California labor laws, including the denial of meal breaks and the club’s failure to pay the state’s minimum wage. 

Granger, Gregg and Saad said they were ordered to work 100-hour weeks but forced by supervisors to clock in just 40 hours, the November 2023 lawsuit obtained by SFGate said. 

One of the claims was that Gregg was made fun of by members of the Bohemian Club ‘for complying with a request from famous billionaire William Koch to hand wash his underwear.’

Koch – whose net worth is said to be $2billion, according to Forbes – was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit and a spokesman for him adamantly denied the charge while saying he isn’t a member. 

‘There’s no dates given in the alleged incident. There’s no detail, period,’ Brad Goldstein said. 

Goldstein claims that the allegations were just to force the club to settle the lawsuit.  

‘And given the fact that Mr. Koch is not a member of the club and is always confused with his brother, I doubt the veracity of the claim.’

The case was dismissed on July 15 after a confidential settlement was agreed between the club and the employees on July 10. 

Koch is the twin brother of the late David Koch, a businessman and fellow Republican megadonor. 

He and older brother Frederich Koch inherited their father’s Koch Industries but later sold their shares to David and their brother Charles.

Bohemian Grove is an exclusive 2,700-acre campsite on Bohemian Avenue, Sonoma County, California, which hosts the men’s-only Bohemian Club.

According to the club’s website, the vast Redwood forest retreat includes trails, river access and outdoor theatrical and dining venues.

The encampment involves over 100 entertainment events, performed by club members, and outdoor activities such as hiking and canoeing.

The club’s motto reads, ‘weaving spiders come not here’ – taken from William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – implies that talk of business is supposed to be avoided on the premises, but this has been ignored on famous occasions.

One such abandonment of this principle came in 1942, when a planning meeting for the Manhattan Project was held on the campsite, playing a part in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

The Bohemian Club was started by journalists, artists and musicians in San Francisco in 1872 – Mark Twain was an early member – and the first two-week encampment came six years later.

The first camp at what is now known as Bohemian Grove came before the turn of the 20th century, and the club began acquiring the area incrementally from 1901.

At its outset, the club was ‘for the association of gentlemen connected professionally with Literature, Art, Music, Drama and also those who, by reason of their love or appreciation of these objects and their interest in participating in Club activities, may be deemed eligible.’

Over time the artsy roots of the club expanded to include scientists, businesspeople and politicians. Members are allowed to bring guests but the gathering is closed to media and outsiders.

The Bohemian Club is made up by some 2,500 members, but there is no complete list of them.

However, photographs from the annual retreats and word-of-mouth have revealed many previous Bohemian Grove attendees.

These have included presidents Herbert Hoover, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon, as well as an A-list of those in the fields originally stated as the club’s target demographic.

Over decades, many journalists have attempted to sneak into Bohemian Grove.

In 1989, Spy magazine went undercover and mixed with the likes of Henry Kissinger, and called what they saw ‘the establishment’s secret two-week frat party’.

But much more sinister accusations were made by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in 2000 after he snuck onto the grounds.

Jones – whose historic claims have included saying the Sandy Hook shooting was staged, leading to him being ordered to pay victims’ families $1.5 billion in damages – recorded one of the camp rituals as guests burnt an effigy at the ‘Cremation of Care’.

Many refer to the ceremony as a ‘satanic ritual’, but it is presented as a metaphorical banishment of members’ worldly cares which are to be left outside the Grove’s boundaries.

The InfoWars host also produced a documentary filled with lurid claims about the goings on at Bohemian Grove including grand plotting and human sacrifice.

Jon Ronson, a journalist who accompanied Jones on the trip, reflected differently, writing: ‘My lasting impression was of an all-pervading sense of immaturity.

‘I wondered whether the Bohemians shroud themselves in secrecy for reasons no more sinister than they thought it was cool.’

Outside of the conspiratorial claims, the camp has been the target of anti-nuclear, anti-capitalist and environmental protests in recent years by virtue of those who attend being people of power and influence.

Other controversies around the Bohemian Club include a 1978 discrimination charge as it emerged that the club refused to hire women and it was ordered to begin recruiting and hiring female employees in October 1981. 

Gregg told Air Mail after filing the suit that the club’s parties were like college but with ‘more money and better alcohol’.