Mojtaba Khamenei, the 56-year-old son of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, directs a significant overseas real estate network through intermediaries, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday citing a year-long investigation.
No assets appear directly in Mojtaba's name, but he has been actively involved in deals dating to at least 2011, according to Western intelligence assessments, insider accounts, real estate records, and confidential documents reviewed by Bloomberg.
The portfolio includes luxury London properties exceeding $138 million (one bought for $46.5 million in 2014), a villa in an elite Dubai district, and upscale hotels in Frankfurt and Mallorca.
Funding, largely from Iranian oil sales, moved through British, Swiss, Liechtenstein, and UAE banks via shell companies such as Ziba Leisure Ltd., Birch Ventures Ltd., and Emirati entities, as tracked by the report.
Iranian banker Ali Ansari, sanctioned by the UK in October, features as owner or director in many transactions. Ansari denies any connection to Mojtaba and plans to challenge the sanctions, the report said.
The sanctions on Ansari were imposed for allegedly financing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards and building a European property portfolio worth about €400 million, according to a Financial Times investigation based on corporate filings.
The Financial Times reported that the assets include luxury properties across several European countries, ranging from a golf resort in Mallorca to a ski hotel in Austria.
