A river, an electric raft and a purchase made in Canada. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, that is how Farzad “Tony” Toutouni got back into the United States.
Toutouni told officials he made the crossing near Saint Clair, Mich., on or about April 4, 2011, ICE said. By then, federal authorities say, the country had already removed him once.
A judge ordered the Iranian citizen removed in 1999, and the feds say he was deported to Mexico.
Authorities say that was the second removal order against him. An immigration judge had issued the first in 1993, and Toutouni stayed anyway.
On Oct. 27, ICE agents arrested the 55-year-old in Los Angeles. Authorities pointed to his illegal entry from Canada and to an alleged crime spree stretching back to 1989.
Toutouni now sits in federal custody. ICE officials said removal proceedings against him have begun.
The arrest ended a very public run online. Toutouni built an Instagram following of more than 1 million people while living in a $5 million mansion in the Hollywood Hills.
His feed showed cash, nude women and wild parties.
ICE tells a different story through its records. Toutouni, who also used the first name “Robert,” arrived in the United States legally in 1983, investigators said.
Officials said he was later arrested for criminal threats, criminal conspiracy, and possession and sale of a controlled substance.
A court also sentenced him to more than 16 months in prison, according to the officials.
The charges behind that sentence were making or passing a fictitious check, grand theft, conspiracy, forgery, kidnapping, robbery and extortion.
Alongside the cash and the parties, his page carried a roster of famous names.
Toutouni posted photos with actor Wesley Snipes, singer Chris Brown, boxer Floyd Mayweather and hockey star Alex Ovechkin.
A recent post placed him on a boat with rapper Lil Pump. Toutouni used the caption to thank the performer for taking the stage for him.
Another image, dated 2017, shows him and a group of friends beside rapper Wiz Khalifa. The New York Post located still more pictures of him with Big Sean, Lil Dicky and Bow Wow.
In 2018, Toutouni stood on the ice with Ovechkin as the NHL legend held the Stanley Cup. “Alex Ovechkin won a big cup for our liquor,” he joked in the caption.
Combat sports figures turned up as well. In 2024, he met influencer and professional boxer Ryan Garcia and posted a photo of the pair with two other people.
He also posed with mixed martial arts legend Chuck Liddell.
Businessman and social media personality Dan Bilzerian appeared in another post. “House shopping with Dan,” Toutouni wrote.
Recent posts take viewers to Burning Man. They show Toutouni with women at a campsite that included a custom RV and a trailer decorated in psychedelic style.
One post from last year shows him in a private jet with three women on his lap.
Bundles of $100 bills sit stacked on a table in front of him. “I live my life like it’s my last day every day!” reads the caption.
Another photo shows the tattooed Toutouni shirtless in a high-rise apartment.
A naked woman hangs over his shoulder while he picks food from a plate in his other hand. “No wife great wife,” reads the caption.
