An Iranian judge has ordered capital punishment for a man and his wife over multiple corruption charges, on top of them disrupting the country’s auto market.

According to judiciary spokesman Gholam-Hossein Esmaili, the couple were found guilty of money laundering, sabotaging Iran’s forex, and hoarding 6,700 vehicles purchased from Saipa, one of the giant but crisis-hit domestic carmakers. Iranian authorities also confiscated over 24,000 gold coins worth nearly $43 million and over 100 kilograms of gold at the residence of Vahid Behzadi and his wife Najva Lashidaee in the capital Tehran. Under the law, the couple still have the right to appeal the death sentences.

The trial came at the height of economic turbulence hitting Iran’s already crumbling and sanctions-hit auto industry. Plummeting production coupled with deep-rooted corruption has in recent weeks sent free market prices of Iranian homemade vehicles soaring by 60%.

Known as a well-connected tycoon, Behzadi has earned the title “sultan of vehicles”, a moniker Iranian media has given other powerful business moguls each “unlawfully” controlling and disrupting a sector of the Iranian economy.