Farzad Toutouni

Introduction

Farzad “Tony” Toutouni is an Iranian citizen and social-media personality who branded himself the “King of Instagram,” amassing more than one million followers under the handle @lunatic_living with posts of cash stacks, exotic cars, private jets and parties, which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement described as “hard- and soft-core pornography.” On November 9, 2026, ICE announced that its Los Angeles officers had arrested the 55-year-old on October 27. According to ICE, Toutouni has a criminal record that includes a sentence of more than 16 months’ imprisonment for kidnapping, robbery, extortion, forgery and related counts, and two prior removal orders from immigration judges. He remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings.

Background Information

ICE states that Toutouni first entered the United States legally in 1983. He built his online persona as a self-described “self-made entrepreneur” and, in his own online biography, a “Pelvis Philanthropist,” posting from a $5 million Hollywood Hills mansion and describing his lifestyle with lines like “I live my life like it’s my last day every day!” ICE’s announcement also noted that in June 2023, Israeli immigrant Emil Lahaziel was murdered outside the West Hollywood mansion Toutouni was renting at the time; neither ICE nor any outlet in this record has alleged any involvement by Toutouni in that killing.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated vs. alleged. The criminal-history account below comes from ICE’s November 9, 2026 announcement: ICE states Toutouni was sentenced to more than 16 months’ imprisonment for the counts it lists, which it presents as part of his record, while its characterization of a “crime spree” continuing “to the present day” and the arrests it cites without stated convictions remain ICE’s allegations. Toutouni has not publicly responded to the arrest announcement, and the October 27 arrest itself is a civil immigration matter — no new criminal charges have been announced in connection with it.

ICE said Toutouni’s record began early: “Toutouni began his crime spree as early as 1989 and allegedly continued to the present day,” the agency said in its statement. He “has been arrested for criminal threats, criminal conspiracy, and possession and sale of a controlled substance,” according to ICE, and “was sentenced to more than 16 months for making or passing a fictitious check, grand theft of access card, conspiracy to commit crime, possess/alter access card equipment, forgery, kidnapping, robbery and extortion.”

The immigration chronology, per ICE: an immigration judge ordered Toutouni removed in 1993, but he was not removed at that time; a second removal order in 1999 was executed, and he was deported to Mexico. ICE says Toutouni has acknowledged re-entering the United States illegally on or about April 4, 2011, near Saint Clair, Michigan, by crossing a river using an electric raft he purchased in Canada.

Between the deportation and the raft crossing, and for more than a decade afterward, Toutouni lived openly under his own name and handle — posting from private jets with bundles of $100 bills on the table, shirtless in high-rise apartments, and from Burning Man with a custom psychedelic RV — while, as the New York Post put it, “ducking immigration agents.” ICE announced the October 27 arrest on November 9, 2026, labeling him a “criminal illegal alien” and dubbing him the “Iranian King of Instagram” in the release’s own headline.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The story traveled under Toutouni’s self-made brand: ICE’s own release headlined him as the “Iranian ‘King of Instagram,’” and the New York Post framed its coverage around the “flashy cars and naked models” persona — the very content ICE cited as evidence of the “high-profile life” he led while subject to two removal orders. ABC7 Los Angeles carried the agency’s statement, quoting ICE’s account of the forgery, kidnapping, robbery and extortion convictions and the 2011 raft re-entry. The consequence ICE announced is custody: “Toutouni will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings,” the agency said.

Current Status

As of the November 9, 2026 announcement, Toutouni is being held in federal custody and ICE has begun removal proceedings against him. No new criminal charges arising from the arrest have been announced; the criminal history ICE cited predates it, and the outstanding matter is his immigration status — a third removal from the United States, which would be his first executed order since the 1999 deportation to Mexico. Neither Toutouni nor any attorney for him has issued a public statement reported in the coverage on this page. ICE did not disclose where in the Los Angeles area the October 27 arrest took place.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The arrest ends a public run that survived two removal orders and roughly fifteen years of postings under the @lunatic_living handle: the persona of cash, cars and private jets that drew a million-plus followers is now permanently attached to ICE’s “King of Instagram” enforcement framing rather than his own. A man who last faced a deportation order in 1999 and crossed back over a river on a purchased electric raft now faces removal proceedings from inside federal custody, with the agency that once failed to remove him in 1993 in control of the timeline.

Sources

• “ICE Los Angeles arrests Iranian ‘King of Instagram’ Farzad ‘Tony’ Toutouni” — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, November 9, 2026 source
• “ICE arrest criminal illegl alien who drove flashy cars and partied with naked models” — New York Post, November 9, 2026 source
• “Farzad ‘Tony’ Toutouni, so-called Iranian ‘King of Instagram,’ arrested by ICE in Los Angeles” — ABC7 Eyewitness News (KABC), November 9, 2026 source