An Iranian heiress locked in a nasty $200 million divorce battle with her doctor husband sneakily signed away control of her company so he couldn’t claim any cash from the business, new court documents allege.
Setareh “Star” Bral — the daughter of a late real-estate mogul believed to have had ties to the last Shah of Iran — relinquished control of Star Pacific Properties shortly after she separated from UCLA Dr. Ryan Aronin, according to documents obtained by The California Post.
Aronin claimed that the property management company, which is estimated to be worth $15 million, is now controlled by Bral’s brother, Sean Bral.
“Setareh took deliberate actions to reduce her income on paper and restrict her access to funds,” the documents said, pointing out that her brother allegedly “does not have an ownership interest” in the company.
The document passing control of the business from sister to brother is dated October 15, 2024. Aronin has claimed the couple separated in March 2022, while Bral said they split in April 2024.
Star Pacific owns and operates two commercial buildings in the Los Angeles area, with tenants that have included big brands such as Starbucks, Panda Express and 7-Eleven, records show. The businesses have generated hundreds of thousands in revenue a year.
Aronin dropped the bombshell update in a motion asking that the couple’s divorce proceedings continue as scheduled and not be delayed until September, per Bral’s request.
The divorce has centered around the Bral clan’s SYB Family trust, which is estimated to be worth $200 million. It was established by her father, who fled Iran shortly after Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was deposed by the Islamic Revolution on Feb. 11, 1979, and came to Los Angeles to build a vast empire.
Aronin claims in court documents that Setareh gave up access to the trust to hide her income and avoid having to pay him any money in the divorce.
“She willingly abdicated responsibility to administer the SYB Family Trusts, likely an attempt to distance herself from control over discretionary trust distributions,” court documents show.
In the new motion, Aronin also claims Bral is still benefitting from rental income generated by the trust. “On or about April 29, 2026, Setareh advertised a trust-related property for lease at approximately $4,950 per month,” court papers said.
Social media posts by Bral show the luxury two-bedroom apartment on Swall Drive not far from UCLA with the caption: “Hello I’m Setareh and something you don’t know about me is that I need a good tenant.”
Bral and Aronin were married in 2014 and lived a lavish lifestyle, with pictures showing the couple attending various fundraisers and private parties at mansions in the most exclusive parts of Los Angeles.
The couple lived with their two children in a luxurious $6 million dollar home in Beverly Hills paid for by the trust, court documents show.
Nasty text message exchanges between the couple appeared to show their divorce has turned ugly.
In one back-and-forth, Bral allegedly wrote to Aronin, “people treat their dogs better than you treat me.”
Surveillance footage stills included in the court papers appear to show Bral throwing the doctor’s clothes off the second-floor balcony of their lavish home.
In the suit, Aronin estimates his estranged wife is worth at least $19 million, and has the ability to make over $700,000 a year on interest alone from the trust’s money.
The doctor says his base salary at UCLA is $190,000 a year and he has spent over $290,000 on the divorce so far.
Bral’s request to move future hearings to September was denied. The two will continue to face off in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom in June.
The Post contacted Bral for comment but did not hear back.