Pahlavi Prince claims French partner bamboozled him, bartered expensive wines

May 6, 2013

The Drinks Business: A former Iranian prince has filed a lawsuit against his French business partner claiming the latter stole US$500,000 from their New York-based wine importer (Lwny) for his own use. Former Prince Kamran Abbas-Vahid, who described himself in the court papers as “the grandson of Her Royal Highness Princess Asharf Pahlavi, the twin sister of the late Shah of Iran,” claims in the suit that his business partner, Charles Moreau, used company funds to pay for his rent in New York’s Financial District, his clothing, his cable bills and his daughter’s tuition. Moreau is also alleged to have taken thousands of dollars worth of wine from the cellars of Lions Wines and bartered them for meals at expensive restaurants such as Cipriani Downtown.

Moreau (left) in a fundraiser at Cipriani's "The Vault"

The Los-Angeles based Abbas-Vahid Pahlavi who went into business with the photogenic Moreau in 2011, is also listed on board at Kavp Investments, Poptails, and Aks Entertainment. New York Daily News reports that Moreau, in an email attached to the court filing, told the prince's lawyer that Abbas-Vahid is a bad businessman "who never kept a business more than a year."

Ashraf Pahlavi in youth

Abbas-Vahid Pahlavi's grandmother, Ashraf Pahlavi, was the powerful and controversial sister of the deposed (late) Shah of Iran. She was among the first Iranian women to discard her veil (Hijab), discuss women’s rights, and undergo plastic surgery. But she was also accused of treason by Iranian nationalists because she facilitated the 1953 CIA-led military coup (Operation Ajax) against popular nationalist leader Mohammad Mossadegh. She is said to be the person who changed Shah's mind to allow CIA to start the operation. In later years, she accumulated a large fortune and was accused of financial and moral corruption. Reportedly, Ashraf and her son Shahram took a 10% ownership in a company gratis in return for insuring the delivery of a hard-to-get export-import licenses to the company. Ashraf was also said to be behind the career rise of Behrouz Vosoughi (actor) but also imprisonment of Dariush Eghbali (popular singer) who rejected allegiance and obedience to her.

Ashraf Pahlavi

Ashraf fled Iran after the Iranian revolution of 1979. She had three unsuccessful marriages and reportedly multiple affairs. In a 1980 interview with The New York Times journalist Judy Klemesrud, Ashraf stated, “I have never been a good mother. Because of my way of life, I was not with my children very much”.

Ashraf was the target of a mysterious and unsuccessful assassination attempt in the summer of 1976 at her summer home on the French Riviera, during which fourteen bullets were fired into the side of her Rolls Royce. A passenger in her car was killed but Pahlavi left the scene unharmed. She currently resides in Paris, France. She has written a number of books, among them "Faces in a Mirror" and "Jamais Resignee."

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