TEHRAN, Iran — An Iranian court has sentenced four people to death and given two more life sentences on charges linked to a $2.6 billion bank fraud described as the biggest financial scam in the country’s history, an official said Monday.
The trial, which began in February, involved some of the country’s largest financial institutions and raised uncomfortable questions about corruption at senior levels in Iran’s tightly controlled economy.
But few specific details have been released, possibly to avoid exposing too much internal scandal while Iran’s leaders seek to assure the country it can ride out tightening sanctions over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Prosecutors have only referred to the linchpin defendant by a nickname and have provided just general information about his purported business empire. The main charges included using forged documents to get credit at one of Iran’s top banks to purchase assets including major state-owned companies.
The official IRNA news agency gave no names at all for most of the other defendants in the Revolutionary Court, which deals with cases involving security and organized crime. The report did not say when the verdicts were issued.
