Who Is Saeid Aminpour?

0

The man at the center of the ruckus at Wilshire State Bank may not be well known to most Angelenos, but in certain communities, he is something of a celebrity.

Saeid Aminpour, known to most of his friends and associates as Steve, spent much of the past decade as Wilshire’s chief marketing officer. He was the face of the bank to the business community.

He admits he is well known in L.A.’s robust Iranian-American community; his photo has even appeared in Persian newspapers as part of Wilshire’s advertising efforts.

“In the Persian Jewish community, everybody knows who is who,” said Aminpour, 53, who declined to be photographed for this article.

Many of the biggest names in the Korean-American banking community, where Wilshire primarily competes, are also familiar with the name.

Still, not a lot about Aminpour’s personal life is publicly known. In several recent telephone interviews with the Business Journal, however, Aminpour began to open up about his background.

Born in Iran, he came to the United States in 1978 to go to college in San Jose. He was part of a wave of Persian Jews who fled Iran around the time of the 1979 revolution.

Like many Iranian immigrants in the United States, he eventually made his way to Beverly Hills, where he now owns a multimillion-dollar home in the 90210 Zip code.

After making his way to Southern California, he started a number of businesses, including property management entities and carwashes.

The gig at Wilshire, which came about in 2001, seemed to be a perfect marriage of his two primary assets: knowledge of business and a gift for gab. Through word of mouth, he referred hundreds of millions of dollars in business to the bank, helping it surpass rivals to become the nation’s largest Korean-American bank – with a healthy clientele of Persian-American business owners.

By late 2010, however, pressure was mounting from allegations of wrongdoing – which Aminpour denies.

He said it hurt to leave his post at the bank, adding, “I loved Wilshire State Bank.”

Aminpour, who has not been charged with any crime related to Wilshire, said after leaving Wilshire that he has gone back to a business he knows well.

“I have a carwash,” he said. “I’m going to go to my own business like before and just make a living. I have a family; I have to feed my family.”

RELATED STORY:

&#8226 SPECIAL REPORT: Risky Business

No posts to display