Report: Iranian billionaire at centre of 2011 investigation into $2.6B bank fraud executed

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian state television says a billionaire businessman at the heart of a $2.6 billion state bank scam, the largest fraud case since the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, has been executed.

The TV report Saturday said authorities put Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, also known as Amir Mansour Aria, to death at Evin prison, just north of the capital, Tehran. The report said the execution came after Iran’s Supreme Court upheld his death sentence.

Three others also face death sentences in the case, which involved using forged documents to get credit at one of Iran’s top banks to purchase assets including major state-owned companies. The trial raised questions about corruption at senior levels in Iran’s tightly controlled economy during the administration of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.