A billionaire businessman accused and convicted of masterminding a $2.6 billion banking scam in Iran was reportedly executed by hanging in a Tehran prison yesterday.

Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, otherwise known as Amir Mansour Aria, was believed to be at the center of the country's largest fraud case since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

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According to state media, the fraud began in 2007 when Khosravi and associates used forged documents to obtain credit at Bank Saderat, one of Iran's top financial institutions.

Forged letters of credit were also obtained from several other major banks whose managers were bribed.

Over the following two years, Amir Mansour Aria Development Co. used the credit to purchase some 40 companies including state-owned companies like major steel producer Khuzestan Steel Co.

A total of 39 defendants were convicted in the case. Four received death sentences, two got life sentences and the rest were sentenced to up to 25 years in prison.

Khosravi's lawyer, Gholam Ali Riahi, told news sources that his client was executed at the notorious Evin prison without notification.

"I had not been informed about the execution of my client," Riahi stated.

State authorities released no statement commenting on Riahi's statement.

Khosravi had built a business empire of more than 35 companies that specialized in everything from water production to meat imports from Brazil. All assets, according to Riahi, are now at the disposal of the prosecutor's office.

The case has raised concerns over corruption amongst senior officials in the administration of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In 2011 Mahmoud Reza Khavari, a banker at another major Iranian bank, escaped to Canada after resigning over the case. Khavari admitted that his bank was involved in the fraud but, despite facing charges over the case, has maintained his innocence.

Khavari is now on the Islamic Republic's wanted list and unable to return to Iran.