Self-Proclaimed Iranian 'King of Instagram' Busted by ICE After Nearly 40 Years Dodging Deportation
Federal agents arrested Farzad 'Tony' Toutouni, a million-follower influencer known for flaunting cash, cars and a long rap sheet, nearly four decades after his criminal record began.
Immigration agents have arrested the Iranian-born social media personality known as the King of Instagram,
ending — at least for now — a run that spanned nearly 40 years of alleged crimes and repeated brushes with deportation. ICE Los Angeles says it took Farzad Tony
Toutouni, who also goes by Robert, into custody on Oct. 27, announcing the arrest on Nov. 9. He remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.
Toutouni's immigration file reads like a decades-long game of cat and mouse. ICE says he entered the U.S. legally in 1983, was ordered removed by an immigration judge roughly a decade later but wasn't deported, then was ordered removed again in 1999 and actually sent to Mexico. By his own account, cited by ABC7 Los Angeles, he reentered the country illegally around April 2011 near Saint Clair, Michigan, crossing the river from Canada on an electric raft.
His rap sheet, as described by ICE, includes arrests for criminal threats, criminal conspiracy, and possession and sale of a controlled substance, plus a sentence of more than 16 months covering a fictitious-check scheme, grand theft of an access card, forgery, kidnapping, robbery and extortion.
TOUTOUNI BEGAN HIS CRIME SPREE AS EARLY AS 1989 AND ALLEGEDLY CONTINUED TO THE PRESENT DAY.
That's how ICE's own release describes his history. Online, Toutouni built a following of more than 1 million Instagram followers around a lifestyle brand of high-end cars, private jets and, per ICE, content the agency says appears to consist of
hard- and soft-core pornography.
His public profile also brushed up against tragedy: in June 2023, an Israeli immigrant was shot and killed outside a West Hollywood mansion that Toutouni was renting at the time. ICE's release does not allege Toutouni had any role in that killing, and no charges tied to it have been reported against him.
For now, Toutouni's fate rests with immigration courts. ICE says removal proceedings are underway, continuing a legal back-and-forth that has already stretched across four decades and two deportations.