ICE agents arrested Iranian Instagram personality Farzad Toutouni in Los Angeles after illegal entry from Canada, ending years of crimes, ignored removal orders, and a flashy Hollywood lifestyle.
Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took Iranian citizen Farzad “Tony” Toutouni into custody in Los Angeles on Oct. 27. Officials say he had entered the United States illegally from Canada and now sits in federal custody as removal proceedings begin.
Toutouni, 55, also went by “Robert.” Online he styled himself the Iranian “King of Instagram,” built more than 1 million followers at @lunatic_living, and lived in a $5 million Hollywood Hills mansion while posting private jets, bundles of cash, and naked women.
Reporting on the case lays out a long trail of criminal conduct and failed removals that left him free to keep crossing and keep posting.
Authorities say Toutouni arrived in the United States legally in 1983. Investigators describe a crime spree dating back to 1989 that included kidnapping, robbery, and extortion.
ICE officials say he was arrested for criminal threats, criminal conspiracy, and possession and sale of a controlled substance. Officials also say he was sentenced to more than 16 months in prison for making or passing a fictitious check, grand theft, conspiracy, forgery, kidnapping, robbery, and extortion.
An immigration judge ordered him removed in 1993. He remained anyway. Another judge ordered him removed again in 1999, and federal authorities deported him to Mexico.
That was not the end of the story.
Per ICE officials, Toutouni said he again entered the United States illegally on or about April 4, 2011, near Saint Clair, Michigan. He crossed the river using an electric raft he had purchased in Canada.
He rebuilt a public persona as a self-made entrepreneur and “Pelvis Philanthropist.” The posts did not hide the lifestyle.
Last year he wrote on Instagram:
"I live my life like it’s my last day every day!"
The image showed him on a private jet with three women in his lap and bundles of $100 bills on the table.
Another caption read:
"No wife great wife,"
That post showed him shirtless in a high-rise apartment, a naked woman over his shoulder, calmly picking food from a plate. One follower replied, “Tru inspiration.”
Recent posts celebrated Burning Man with women and an ostentatious campsite built around a custom RV and trailer. He later wrote of the festival:
"I’m happy I experienced it, but it’s not something I would ever want to do again,"
ICE agents finally arrested him in Los Angeles on Oct. 27. He is held in federal custody. Authorities have begun removal proceedings.
The record in this case is plain. Legal entry in 1983. Serious criminal convictions and arrests. A 1993 removal order he beat by staying. A 1999 removal that sent him to Mexico. An admitted 2011 illegal re-entry by raft from Canada. Then years of mansion living and Instagram spectacle before agents caught up with him again.
Taxpayers and lawful residents are left with the pattern: orders issued, borders crossed, and a public lifestyle funded on U.S. soil until enforcement finally lands.
When removal orders become suggestions and illegal re-entry becomes content, the system is not broken by accident, it is broken by neglect.
