Russell Armstrong’s business partner Alan Schram commits suicide 24 hours later

In a strange twist to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Russell Armstrong’s suicide it was just revealed that Russell’s business partner, Alan Schramm, shot and killed himself outside of his car on Mulholland Dr. on August 16, just 24 hours after Russell’s body was found on August 15.

TMZ broke the story after “Taylor and some of the other Real Housewives of Beverly Hills were talking about how shocked they were that the two men killed themselves — possibly a day apart” at Russell Armstrong’s memorial service.

The two were connected through an elite investment group called Tiger 21, which is essentially a social network of high-net-worth investors who meet together to brainstorm and exchange investment advice. From the Tiger 21 web site:

In an atmosphere of complete confidentiality, our members learn about investments and engage in candid discussions about a wide range of issues relevant to high-net-worth individuals. They enhance their expertise via active collaboration with peers, participate in portfolio defense sessions, challenge themselves to better investment decisions, and along the way build fulfilling business and personal relationships in a community of like-minded individuals.

The annual membership fee is $30,000 and the minimum net worth for membership was between $10 million and $100 million of investable assets in 2004, so there’s no telling what it is now or how Russell Armstrong was able to gain membership.

Alan Schram (photo at right) was a well-respected financial expert who was managing partner of Wellcap, an L.A-based hedge fund, as well as a financial blogger for The Huffington Post. Here is his bio from their site:

“Alan Schram is the managing partner of Wellcap Partners, a hedge fund based in Los Angeles. He founded Wellcap Partners in 2000 and has been managing investment portfolios for private and institutional investors since 1997. Prior to that he co-founded Sitestar Corporation, a technology investment company that acquired several Internet service providers in secondary US markets and became a publicly traded company in 1999. Mr. Schram served as an officer in the Israeli Air Force and is a veteran of the Gulf War. Graduated from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, Executive Management Program.”

Though there has been no direct connection between the two suicides, there are already theories floating around the web – most of which centered around the alleged tell-all book about Russell Armstrong and his wife Taylor Armstrong. Is it possible the two were involved in some sort of shady business venture? Hotmommagossip is even speculating that Alan Schram and Russell Armstrong may have been gay lovers, which would jibe with RadarOnline’s reports of Russell being bisexual. But, let me point out that this is all speculation at this point! It could very well be that the two friends and business partners’ suicides being so close to each other was purely coincidence. I’m sure we will know more soon enough.