An Iranian criminal alien who beat two deportation orders lived for years in a $5 million Hollywood Hills mansion, flaunting private jets and naked models to a million Instagram followers, while federal authorities simply looked the other way.
This is the two-tier immigration system in action. Working Americans can't afford rent, but Farzad "Tony" Toutouni built a luxury influencer empire in plain sight after sneaking back into the country on an electric raft from Canada. He had kidnapping and robbery convictions. He was ordered removed twice. Nobody came looking until now.
ICE arrested the 55-year-old in Los Angeles on Oct. 27. According to the agency's own press release, Toutouni entered the United States legally in 1983. An immigration judge ordered him removed in 1993. He stayed. A second judge ordered him removed in 1999, and he was deported to Mexico. He admitted he re-entered illegally in 2011, crossing the river near Saint Clair, Michigan, on an electric raft he bought in Canada.
That was thirteen years ago. In the interim, Toutouni racked up arrests for criminal threats, criminal conspiracy, and possession and sale of a controlled substance. He served more than 16 months in prison for a list of charges that reads like a rap sheet from a different country: fictitious checks, grand theft, forgery, kidnapping, robbery, and extortion. ICE noted his Instagram content "appears to consist of hard- and soft-core pornography."
And yet there he was, posting from a $5 million mansion, posing with stacks of hundred-dollar bills on private jets, slinging naked women over his shoulder in high-rise apartments, and captioning it all: "I live my life like it's my last day every day!"
The New York Post highlighted what Gateway Pundit largely left out: Toutouni's celebrity connections. He posed with Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa, Big Sean, Lil Pump, Lil Dicky, Benny Blanco, NHL star Alex Ovechkin holding the Stanley Cup, MMA legend Chuck Liddell, boxer Ryan Garcia, and social media personality Dan Bilzerian. The Post framed these as "A-list celeb links" revealed after the takedown. Gateway Pundit, by contrast, focused squarely on the criminal history and the immigration enforcement failure.
What neither outlet answered: How does a man with kidnapping and extortion convictions afford a $5 million Hollywood Hills mansion? Where did the money come from? Toutouni branded himself a self-made entrepreneur and "Pelvis Philanthropist." That's not a business model. That's a money trail.
There's also the matter of a dead body. In June 2023, Israeli immigrant Emil Lahaziel was murdered outside a West Hollywood mansion Toutouni was renting at the time, according to ICE. Gateway Pundit noted the connection; the Post buried it.
Two deportation orders. More than a decade of illegal presence after sneaking in on a raft from Canada. Kidnapping, robbery, extortion convictions. A murder at a property he was renting. And the federal government couldn't find a man posting his face to a million followers on Instagram every day.
Toutouni will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. The question isn't whether he gets deported again. The question is who looked the other way for thirty years — and how many more like him are living in mansions right now.
