Iran’s Supreme Court confirms death sentence for tycoon

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence against a well-known tycoon, the country’s state-run news agency reported Saturday.

The Saturday report by IRNA said Babak Zanjani was sentenced to death over a number of charges including money laundering and disrupting the country’s economy.

On March 2016, a primary court sentenced Babak Zanjani and his two associates to death.

The two defendants are facing charges of complicity in money laundering, forgery and fraud.

IRNA also said Gholam-Reza Ansari, a senior official at the Supreme Court of Iran, announced that the Supreme Court has upheld the death penalty for the two other defendants involved in the embezzlement case, Hamid Fallah-Heravi and Mehdi Shamszadeh.

Zanjani was arrested in 2013 as part of a crackdown on alleged corruption during the rule of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Iran’s Oil Ministry says Zanjani owes more than 2 billion euros ($2.25 billion) for oil sales he made on behalf of Ahmadinejad’s government.

Zanjani, 41, is one of Iran’s wealthiest businessmen, with a fortune worth an estimated $14 billion. He was arrested shortly after the election of President Hassan Rouhani.