00:01A luxury hotel in Mallorca, an Austrian ski resort, and a Hilton Hotel in Frankfurt.
00:09Behind these high-end properties is an unexpected owner, Mostaba Chaminé, Iran's new supreme
00:16leader.
00:17In this upscale neighborhood of Paris, apartments sell for several million euros.
00:22One of the owners is a man neighbor say they have barely seen.
00:33But his name appears on the title deed, Ali Ansari, an Iranian banker who was sanctioned
00:40last year by British authorities for his alleged ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
00:48Today we are announcing sanctions against corrupt Iranian banker and businessman Ali Ali Akbar
00:53Ansari for his role in financially supporting the activities of the IRGC.
00:59But according to Bloomberg, Ali Ansari may actually be holding assets on behalf of Mostaba Chaminé,
01:06the new Iranian leader, whose fortune is estimated to more than 100 billion euros.
01:12To invest his wealth, the supreme leader would need a front man.
01:17Ali Ansari was one of Mostaba Chaminé's financial intermediaries.
01:25Their relationship goes back a long time, because Iran has been under sanctions for 45 years.
01:31The regime has to find ways to circumvent them, often using straw men.
01:42Ali Ansari's assets in London have been closely examined by an anti-corruption NGO.
01:48Starting in 2013, he reportedly purchased 12 properties on this prestigious avenue, including
01:55this one for a total of 85 million euros.
01:59He also bought two apartments in this building, overlooking the Israeli embassy.
02:05In several cases, the properties were not purchased in his own name.
02:09So all of the documents that we've been able to see and obtain show that Ansari is the owner
02:15of the properties, whether directly or through offshore companies.
02:19But according to Bloomberg, Ansari and Chaminé are very close, and that Ansari has been acting
02:25as a front man, purchasing properties for Mostaba Chaminé.
02:29According to the Financial Times, other investments were made in Frankfurt.
02:34Two luxury Hilton hotels, each valued at 80 million euros, as well as shares in a high-end
02:41resort complex in Austria, and a hotel with a swimming pool and a golf course in Mallorca.
02:49In each case, the financial structures appear complex.
02:52They involve several shell companies in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and even tax havens
02:59such as St. Kitts and Nevis.
03:01Through his lawyer Ali Ansari denies any financial relationship with Iran's new supreme leader
03:06and says he plans to challenge the British sanctions.
03:09For now, he is not under sanctions in the EU.
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