Seems like Khamenei was a pretty sharp cookie money wise.Apparently Sharia law prohibits certain financial activities, including gambling, unethical business activities, and speculation.However he seems to have had his hands on more assets than most !https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15605827/How-Ayatollah-ran-95BILLION-business-empire-built-seizing-thousands-Iranians-properties-selling-profit.htmlIran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei left behind a corrupt and repressive legacy, following his assassination on February 28. 'Before his death, he was the longest-serving ruler in the Middle East, having taken power in 1989 following the death of his mentor Ruhollah Khomeini. His 36 years and eight months leading Iran resulted in the mass repression of women, the slaughter of civilians and the funding of terror groups including Hamas and Hezbollah.But among the most wicked things he did was to amass a business empire worth an estimated $95billion by systematically seizing thousands of properties belonging to ordinary Iranians. Khamenei's business empire was held under Setad, a little-known organisation set up by Ruhollah Khomeini just before his death. Its full name in Persian is 'Setad Ejraiye Farmane Hazrate Emam' - Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam. It was one of the keys to the now-dead Iranian leader's power and holds stakes in nearly every sector of Iranian industry, including finance, oil, telecommunications, the production of birth-control pills and even ostrich farming. A Reuters investigation in 2013 found Setad amassed a giant portfolio of real estate by claiming in Iranian courts, sometimes falsely, that the properties are abandoned. The organisation holds a court-ordered monopoly on taking property in the name of the supreme leader, and regularly sells the seized properties at auction or seeks to extract payments from the original owners. Under Khamenei, the organisation expanded its corporate holdings, buying stakes in dozens of Iranian companies, both private and public, with the stated goal of creating an Iranian conglomerate to boost the country's economic growth'.I wonder how much of this benefited the Iranian poor ?
John Hawkes ● 2h