Brothers Salar and Sasan Azimi, known from the TV program ‘The sky is the limit’, were arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of fraud, according to Dutch media reports.
“From room to lord of the castle.” Two days ago, 38-year-old businessman Salar Azimi was still beaming on the YouTube channel Pure Luxe, showing off the luxury life he has built up with hard work over the past 25 years since he came to the Netherlands as the 13-year-old son of an Iranian political refugee. had come.
During a tour of the castle, which he and his brother Sasan, who is four years younger, moved into Aardenburg, a district of the Zeeland Sluis, the chandeliers made of Persian crystal receive extensive attention. Salar jokes that due to the corona crisis he stopped spraying the castle garden with champagne. Naturally, the man pauses to consider the collection of Lamborghinis, which Flemish viewers of ‘The Sky is the limit’ already got to know when the FOUR series followed the Azimis in their daily activities a few years ago.
Two days ago, Salar Azimi showed up in the YouTube channel Pure Luxe.
On Tuesday, the Azimi brothers received different people than a smooth presenter of a YouTube channel. A small army of 50 police officers and employees of the anti-fraud service FIOD searched both the castle Aardenburg and the office of the brothers in the nearby Hotel De Elderschans. The two brothers were arrested, and while guests were still free to walk in and out of the hotel, the police confiscated USB sticks and laptops. Exactly what the Azimis are charged with has not yet been disclosed.
Party boat The Lambo
Anyone who has seen ‘The sky is the limit’, a series that follows the lives of a few rich people, is probably familiar with Salar Azimi’s bio. A few years after his arrival in the Netherlands, he started his first telecom business in Sluis with no more than 10,000 euros. Business was doing so well that Azimi began to expand and – often together with brother Sasan, who is much less in the spotlight – invested heavily in real estate and catering. In addition to Hotel De Elderschans, the brothers put their money in a party boat that was christened The Lambo.
The Dutch management magazine Quote estimated the brothers’ empire at around 24 million euros last year. Azimi even flirted with the stock exchange by buying in from Lavide, an empty shell on the Amsterdam stock exchange where he wants to house his activities.
Spire of Patro Eisden
The most striking investment is probably Patro Eisden Maasmechelen, a football team from the first national. Azimi was so enthusiastic about the club that a few months after taking office he briefly put himself on the player list and as a substitute striker took a penalty and scored.
In the meantime, love has cooled. When it came to light that Azimi wanted to invest nearly 70,000 euros from Lavide in Patro Eisden without the directors of the empty shell being aware of it, he was dismissed as CEO. At the end of last year, Azimi sold his stake in the team to British property developer Derrick Devonport.
In the Netherlands, the court had already been targeting the brothers for some time. Four years ago, inspectors raided Hotel De Elderschans to check illegal employees. According to the Dutch newspaper NRC, the Royal Dutch Football Association had warned the teams NAC Breda, Roda JC and FC Dordrecht after a tip from the court. At the time, this questioned the origin of the brothers’ assets.
