Ansary’s wife Shahla bought $14 million penthouse in Palm Beach
PHILIPSBURG — While Ennia’s major shareholder Hushang Ansary is entangled in lawsuits that could force him to repay millions of dollars to the insurance company, his wife Shahla does not seem to be short of capital, given her acquisition of a penthouse and cabana in Palm Beach for $14 million.
TheRealDeal.com described the purchase in an article that was published on November 23, 2020.
Ansary bought the property from reputed West Palm Beach attorney Alan J. Ciklin, who had acquired it back in 2014 for $7.8 million. When Ciklin put the penthouse and cabana on the market in May, the initial asking price was $18.75 million.
The acquisition of the penthouse triggers the question whether its purpose was to put at least some of Ansary’s assets in his wife’s name in an attempt to protect it from seizure by the authorities in the course of the Ennia-lawsuit.
The penthouse and cabana are part of the Sun and Surf One Hundred Building, located at 100 Sunrise Avenue in Palm Beach, north of Fort Lauderdale and Miami. The project was built in 1997. The penthouse measures 5,095 square feet (473 square meter), has three bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms. The cabana is 597 square feet (55 square meter).
The annual property tax for the penthouse is a little over $193,000.
Ansary is a former minister of economic affairs and finance in the Imperial State of Iran when it was ruled by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. From 1967 to 1969 Ansary was Iran’s ambassador in the United States.
He founded the Parman Capital Group in 2005. Shortly afterwards he bought insurance company Ennia, a business marriage that was not exactly made in heaven. Ansary is facing lawsuits for draining the insurance company of capital through an intrinsic web of financial constructions. Key to his financial shenanigans was inflating the value of Mullet Bay with the objective of making Ennia look financially healthy.
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