Add another title to the storied resume of Los Angeles billionaire and philanthropist Eli Broad: contrarian investor.

While the rest of the investment world has pulled back in recent weeks as the liquidity crisis that started in the subprime mortgage industry has spread and caused a widespread credit crunch, Eli Broad stepped up and put in millions of dollars to help shore up a troubled Goldman Sachs Group Inc. hedge fund.

Broad was one of three investors named last week, among a larger group, that together put $1 billion into Goldman Sachs’ Global Equity Opportunities Fund. In addition, the investment bank put in $2 billion of its own cash.

The Aug. 13 move came after a 10-day stretch in which the fund had lost roughly 30 percent of its value. Goldman Sachs Chief Financial Officer David Viniar denied the investments amounted to a massive bailout, though it was widely seen as such on Wall Street. Instead, Goldman Sachs termed the move an “attractive investment opportunity.”

Indeed that’s exactly how Broad himself characterized his investment last week through a spokeswoman. Broad said that “when people are selling things at fire sale prices, those who have liquidity like the Goldman Sachs fund have a great opportunity.”

Broad also said that he has “high confidence” in Goldman Sachs’ ability to manage the global fund going forward. That view represents a gamble that global equity markets will stabilize soon. However, as of late last week, following yet another round of panic selling on global exchanges, that day seemed even further off than before.

The other two named investors were Perry Capital LLC and C.V. Starr & Co. Inc., which is led by Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the former American International Group Inc. chief executive who was forced out amid an accounting scandal at the insurance giant.

Broad put to rest last week any speculation that he was encouraged to invest in the Goldman Sachs fund by Greenberg, who was the president and chairman at AIG when that company acquired Broad’s SunAmerica Corp. in 1999.

Broad, through spokeswoman Karen Denne, said that he has done a lot of business directly with Goldman Sachs and was contacted by the firm directly with the opportunity to invest in the fund. “He didn’t know that Hank Greenberg was also investing,” Denne said.

Goldman Sachs’ Global Equity Opportunities Fund is one of three funds within its asset management business. It’s considered a quantitative fund because it relies on computer programs to buy and sell. In the last two weeks, quantitative funds have been hit hard by uncertainties in global markets and by divestment. The computer trading amplifies such fluctuations.