Women in lingerie. Dom Perignon. Ferraris. More than 2.6 million followers. All pretty normal for a certain kind of influencer on Instagram. But this account didn’t belong to just any member of the privileged elite—it belonged to Sasha Sobhani, the 33-year-old son of the former Iranian ambassador to Venezuela living in Spain. And, as of Feb. 12, it was gone.
In late January, Iranian authorities took serious steps to bring an end to Sobhani’s ostentatious lifestyle. It all started when Iran filed an extradition request alleging money laundering, human trafficking, and running illegal gambling websites. A resident of Spain for almost two years, Sobhani was briefly detained by Spanish authorities at Interpol’s request. Now his extradition process will start in the coming weeks, according to El Mundo. After his release on Jan. 30, Sobhani posted a story on a now-deleted Instagram account telling his followers that all was well. Then a day later, he let loose.
