The club as the representative of its members has standing and would win. The issue is not whether the club received payment for the membership; rather the issue is what the club and its members received in return: They though they were getting a jet-setting, blue-blood titan of industry, but instead, they got an hourly worker at Walmart.
To put this in legal terms, every contract requires “consideration” to be valid and enforceable. Consideration is the value given (or legal right relinquished) by each party to the contract. In my example, the consideration given by the club is membership and all the rights, privileges, and prestige of being a member. The consideration given by the club applicant is money and pedigree. If the applicant lied about his pedigree, then then there is a failure of consideration, and as a result, the membership contract is unenforceable. Thus, while the club may not have a legal claim for money damages, it could most certainly sue in equity to have the membership contract canceled based upon a failure of consideration and fraud in the inducement.
Well, maybe I'm not understanding the nuances of the legal process here.
Wouldn't the club just cancel the membership WITHOUT filing a lawsuit ... and leave it up to the disgraced member to deal with his $300,000 loss however he sees fit? It would seem to me that any "claim" the club has would basically be pursued as an affirmative defense if the member tries to sue them for the $300,000.