TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran on Sunday executed the ringleader of a vast investment scam that defrauded tens of thousands of people through a car-buying network, the judiciary said.

Mohammad Reza Ghaffari, owner of the Rezaayat Khodro Taravat Novin company, was hanged after the Supreme Court upheld his death sentence for “large-scale disruption of the country’s economic system” and network fraud, the judiciary’s Mizan Online portal said.

The scheme, launched in 2013 in northern Qazvin province, promised cars at below-market prices and later expanded into real estate and investment plans.

Prosecutors accused Ghaffari and his associates of taking “vast sums from the public” and using new deposits to pay returns to early clients.

The judiciary said the scheme involved sums equivalent to around $350 million at current exchange rates.

Only “around four percent” of customers received a vehicle, the judiciary said, adding that a court found Ghaffari guilty of undermining the national economy.

The case drew more than 28,000 complainants and involved 28 defendants.

The judiciary said the court had sought to ensure victims were repaid.

“All necessary opportunities were given to the defendants to pay the people’s debts,” Mizan said, noting Ghaffari had claimed during trial he was ready to reimburse investors, which would have spared him the death penalty.

But despite “several warnings and deadlines” after the Supreme Court confirmed the sentence in August, he failed to settle his obligations, Mizan reported.

Judicial officials said the scam caused “severe financial and psychological harm” to victims, including stress-related illnesses and family breakdowns.

Iran applies the death penalty not only for offenses such as murder and rape, but also in major economic and espionage cases.

It is the world’s second most prolific user of capital punishment after China, according to rights groups including Amnesty International.