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[quote=Anonymous]On 14 January 1979, an article titled "Little pain expected in exile for Shah" by The Spokesman Review newspaper found that the Pahlavi dynasty had amassed one of the largest private fortunes in the world; estimated at well over $1 billion at the time.[103] A list submitted to the ministry of justice in protest of the royal family's penetration of every corner of the nation's economy detailed that the Pahlavi dynasty dominated the economy of Iran at the time. The list showed that the Pahlavi dynasty had interests in, amongst other things, 17 banks and insurance companies, including a 90 percent ownership in the nation's third-largest insurance company, 25 metal enterprises, 8 mining companies, 10 building materials companies, including 25 percent of the largest cement company, 45 construction companies, 43 food companies, and 26 enterprises in trade or commerce, including a share of ownership in almost every major hotel in Iran. According to another source, the Pahlavis owned 70 percent of the hotel capacity in the country at the time. Much of the Pahlavi dynasty fortune was required to be transferred to the "Pahlavi Foundation", a charitable organization and the families' trust. The organization refuses to give any value of its assets or an annual income but a published book in Iran by Robert Graham, a British journalist, calculates that on the basis of its known holdings, the foundation assets totalled over $2.8 billion at the time.

In Iran alone the Pahlavi foundation owned four leading hotels—the Hilton, the Vanak, the Evin and the Darband. The foundation gained international attention for purchasing the DePinna building on Fifth Avenue, New York, at the time in 1975 valued at $14.5 million. Such investment in a foreign market by the Pahlavi foundation gained media attention because in order to do such foreign investment the foundation had to register as an American charitable foundation with the declared aim of using the rental to pay for Iranian students studying in America. The advantage of such charitable status was that the U.S. authorities could not investigate the books of the Pahlavi Foundation in Iran.[104]

Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi was also known for his interest in cars and had a personal collection of 140 classic and sports cars including a Mercedes-Benz 500K coupe, one of only six ever made.

A wonderful, enlightened ruler! A great loss to the world![/quote]

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