Kia Joorabchian

Kiavash Joorabchian is an Iranian-born British-educated businessman largely involved in association football.

In the register of directorships at Companies House in London, Joorabchian gives two nationalities, Canadian and British, born on 14 July 1971.

Although routinely described in the press as a football agent, Joorabchian is not a licensed agent.

The involvement of unlicensed agents in transfers in the English Premier League is prohibited by the Football Association.

Joorabchian does not himself claim to be an agent, saying "I think the agency business is very different".

He describes his business as advising players on their rights and clubs on transfers and contracts.

Joorabchian is also involved in the 'third-party' ownership of players, describing himself as an investment manager.

The Joorabchian family emigrated from Iran following the fall of the Shah in 1979.

They went to the United Kingdom and then Canada, returning to England when Joorabchian was 6.

His father ran car dealerships, including Medway Autos in Kent.

Joorabchian was educated at Shiplake College in Oxfordshire and then at a school in Golders Green, north London.

He went on to study chemistry and business studies at Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London, dropping out after his second year.

He has supported Arsenal Football Club since his childhood and later kept a corporate box at their Emirates Stadium.

Due to his association with Arsenal he has forged a close relationship with David Dein and his son Darren.

Joorabchian is married to Brazilian lawyer and restaurateur Tatiana Alonso.

Joorabchian worked first for his father and then as a trader at the International Petroleum Exchange in London.

He became involved in the stock market and fund management, moving to New York City and establishing an investment company, American Capital LLC, based in Manhattan but registered in Delaware.

A year later, in 1999, American Capital bought 85% of the Russian newspaper Kommersant.

After a month Kommersant's ownership passed to the oligarch Boris Berezovsky, who was widely suspected to have been behind American Capital's bid for the paper, something denied by Joorabchian who was said to have given assurances that he was not working on anyone else's behalf.

Although Joorabchian suffered in the stock market crash of 2001, his sale of American Capital after that volatility brought him, on his own estimate, between £50 million and £60 million.

In 2004, Joorabchian founded Media Sports Investments to make a partnership with Brazilian football club Corinthians.

In 2005 Corinthians won its fourth Brazilian title.

The Tevez transfer was brokered by the Argentinian football agent Fernando Hidalgo, who was a partner in the company HAZ Sports with Pini Zahavi.

Zahavi, responsible for numerous football deals, including the acquisition of Chelsea Football Club by Roman Abramovich, acted as a broker for MSI.

The source of the money behind MSI was a subject of considerable speculation.

The Spanish sports newspaper Diario AS suggested that a 15% share was owned by Abramovich, while Joorabchian's name continued to be linked to that of Berezovsky.

In 2005 the Georgian businessman and owner of Dinamo Tbilisi, Badri Patarkatsishvili, a close associate of Berezovsky, told a journalist that they had indeed invested in Corinthians.

Joorabchian himself was described by Brazilian authorities as "trying, at all costs, to hide knowledge of the people and businesses involved in the transactions".

He had briefly considered becoming involved at Arsenal, but found it too expensive and had instead been pointed towards Brazilian football by Pelé's agent and the recommendation of Pini Zahavi, the so-called 'super agent', whom Joorabchian described in 2006 as a friend of long standing.

The partnership with Corinthians's was a 10-year deal stipulating that MSI would provide $35 million –$20 million of which would cover debts– in return for 51% of future profits.

Joorabchian moved to Brazil and changed the way Corinthians was run, increasing revenue by 500% in the first year.

A series of major signings followed MSI's investment, including, most spectacularly, Carlos Tevez, who was signed from Boca Juniors for $22 million, an unprecedented amount for a transfer by a South American club.

These were players who were engaged to play for Corinthians but whose economic rights were partly or wholly owned by MSI.

By 2006 the company was listing as its investments not just Corinthians, but also the players Carlos Tevez, Marcelo Mattos, Gustavo Nery, Roger, Javier Mascherano, Carlos Alberto, Sebastián Domínguez and Marinho.

In 2007, following allegations that Corinthians had been used to launder money, a Brazilian judge, Faustus Martins de Sanctis, ordered the arrest of Berezovsky, Joorabchian, Nojan Bedroud, cofounder of MSI, and four officials of club, including the chairman, Alberto Dualib.

MSI responded by saying that the judge's actions were "absurd, arbitrary and lacking legal backing", while Joorabchian denied any wrongdoing and maintained that all payments made to Corinthians were "cleared through and approved by the Brazilian Central Bank".

In October 2008, he said, "I manage the investment group and obviously when the investment group is profitable, as fund manager, you also get a cut".

In 2009 it was reported that the unnamed investors represented by Joorabchian were understood to own the economic rights to 60 or 70 players across Europe and South America.

Joorabchian was born in Tehran, Iran, as the son of Iranian car-dealer businessman, Mohammed Joorabchian.

According to Joorabchian his father's uncle had once run the biggest car manufacturer in the Middle East.