Courtney Chauncey Julian (June 18, 1893 – June 3, 1970) was a Canadian-American oil company promoter and con man operating in Los Angeles, California, United States in the 1920s and 1930s.[1]
Born in the Canadian province of Manitoba on October 10, 1885, to Roman Catholic Irish immigrant parents,[2][3] Julian was the founder and namesake of Julian Petroleum Company, which ultimately "defrauded local investors of $100–$200 million (nearly $3 billion in 2019 dollars) with the help of local businessmen and politicians".[4] In his high-rolling heyday, Julian once spent $2,300 to buy a round of champagne for everyone at the Ship Cafe in Venice.[5]
He fled the country to avoid prosecution and committed suicide by intentional drug overdose at the Astor House Hotel in Shanghai, China, on March 25, 1934.[6][7] At the time of Julian's death his wife and two daughters lived in Winnipeg.[8] He was buried in a "foreign cemetery" in Shanghai on May 11, 1934, in a service attended only by his 19-year-old companion Leonora Levy and her sister.[9][10]