Abolfazl Shamkhani, the son of Ali Shamkhani, who was a political advisor to Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, invested in an investment company in Cyprus with a Caribbean passport obtained under an assumed name, an investigation by OCCRP has revealed.
Cypriot corporate filings show that Abolfazl, who obtained a passport from the Caribbean nation of Dominica under the alias “Sami Hayek” is a limited partner at Saleya Fund RAIF LP, a Cyprus registered “alternative investment fund.”
According to corporate filings, Abolfazl contributed 125.000 euros to the Fund, though it’s unclear from the documents whether this money are funds, shares or assets. There is no public information about the fund’s activities, and it has yet to file accounts in Cyprus.
The company does not currently appear on the list of registered alternative investment funds on CySEC’s website. This type of limited partnership fund can be externally managed by a manager who is not registered either in Cyprus or another EU country.
Cyprus records show that Abolfazl listed his Dominica passport as well as a residence address at the Golf Place complex in Dubai, in the corporate filings dated November 2024.
A marketing catalogue describes the development as a “luxury villa community” featuring “lush fairways, winding walkways, meticulously landscaped parks and gardens, as well as vast open spaces that would enhance the life of every resident.”
The villa purchased by Abolfazl is featured on the website of a design firm that claimed to have worked on the property for a “private client” in 2022. Photos show sleek, luxury interiors, a sumptuous terrace with outdoor lounges and entertaining spaces, and an azure swimming pool overlooking a sprawling golf course.
However, the OCCRP investigation has revealed that this is not the only Dubai property Abolfazl and his older brother Hossein Shamkhani, a sanctioned Iranian oil magnate, hold in the United Arab Emirates.
Abolfazl and Hossein have amassed a luxury real estate portfolio in Dubai, under assumed names and passports issued by Dominica, UAE property records reveal. Hossein used “Hugo Hayek” on his Dominica passport.
Dominica has sold thousands of so-called “golden passports” to clients that include oligarchs and officials from repressive regimes.
Under these Caribbean identities, the brothers are the listed owners of no fewer than four luxury Dubai villas, records show. At the time of acquisition, these properties were worth about 29 million euros. In July 2022, Hossein used the Dominican passport to purchase a villa on Jumeirah Bay Island, an exclusive, man-made, seahorse-shaped neighborhood off Dubai’s waterfront. In October of that year, Abolfazl used the name Sami Hayek to buy a luxury residence in the same area, property data shows. They are still owned by the brothers under the aliases.
Their father Ali Shamkhani was killed during recent U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that claimed the lives of Khamenei and other top officials, according to ILNA, a semi-official Iranian news agency.
The Shamkhani brothers’ use of the “Hayek” aliases has extended beyond personal real estate assets. Those identities appear in corporate records for a Turkish company, Green Energy Chemicals Enerji Kimyasallari Sanayi Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, incorporated in 2021.
Company records list Hugo and Sami Hayek among the founding shareholders of the company. The brothers transferred their shares in the firm to the Dubai-based Milavous Group Ltd in November 2023, the records show.
The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control alleges that Green Energy Chemicals Enerji Kimyasallari Sanayi Ticaret Anonim Sirketi has been involved in helping ship oil for Russia and Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.
In July 2025, OFAC sanctioned the Turkish firm and Milavous Group, describing the parent company as “another important component of Hossein’s network, assisting Hossein in arranging sales of Iranian oil and gas and laundering the proceeds” and “disguising the Iranian and Russian origin of the oil it sold.” The EU and U.K. have also imposed sanctions on Milavous Group over similar allegations.
U.S. authorities believe Milavous Group is a “de facto corporate holding or management company for many of the Shamkhani Network’s associated businesses.”
Neither Abolfazl nor his brother Hossein responded to requests for comment sent to personal email addresses and firms that Western governments claim are associated with them.
Hossein Shamkhani was hit with U.S. and EU sanctions in July 2025 for allegedly generating billions of dollars in oil revenue for the regimes in Tehran and Moscow.
Following U.S. and EU sanctions, the U.K. sanctioned Hossein in August 2025 for allegedly supporting the Iranian regime’s “hostile activity.
It is not clear whether the brothers still hold the Dominica passports, however. Authorities of the island nation reportedly revoked Hossein’s passport in response to the U.S. sanctions. Dominican authorities did not respond to a request for comment.
Correction: Story was updated to clarify Shamkhani’s relationship to Saleya Fund RAIF LP as a limited partner.