Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Iranian citizen Farzad “Tony” Toutouni in California in late October, the agency announced on Thursday.
Toutouni lived in California as a social media influencer with more than 1 million followers, ICE Los Angeles stated in a press release. The agency described his content as soft-core pornography alongside pictures of high-end cars, luxury aircraft, and scantily clad women.
Federal officials said Toutouni is a criminal illegal alien who first entered the United States in 1993 under the name “Robert.”
An immigration judge ordered him removed that year, and a second judge ordered his deportation to Mexico in 1999, according to the ICE press release.
Toutouni said that he reentered the United States illegally on or about April 4, 2011, by crossing the river near Saint Clair, Michigan, on an electric raft purchased in Canada, agency records show. In June 2023, Israeli immigrant Emil Lahaziel was murdered outside a West Hollywood mansion that Toutouni was renting, according to the ICE release.
Federal agents booked Toutouni on charges of criminal threats, criminal conspiracy, and possession and sale of a controlled substance, according to an ICE post on X.
Court records show Toutouni previously served a sentence of more than 16 months behind bars.
Those convictions involved making or passing a fictitious check, grand theft of an access card, criminal conspiracy, and possessing or altering access card equipment.
ICE Los Angeles said that video footage of the October arrest is available upon request.
Worth a look