Iran court upholds 4 death sentences over fraud

Men linked to $2.6b swindle considered the largest in Iranian history

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s state prosecutor says the country’s Supreme Court has upheld death sentences against four people linked to a $2.6 billion bank fraud described as the biggest financial swindle in Iran’s history.

Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei says the four were convicted of being “corrupt on earth” for “disrupting” the country’s economy. He says the court has ordered the verdict to be carried out but no date has been set.

Ejehei is quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying that two banking officials have been sentenced to life in prison while 19 others, almost all of them senior government officials, were given prison terms ranging from 2 to 20 years.

Their trial last year raised questions about corruption at senior levels in Iran’s tightly controlled economy.