CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) — A court in Moldova sentenced a former opposition leader and one of the nation’s richest men on Wednesday to 19 years in a fraud case that saw a billion dollars stolen from several of the impoverished European country’s banks more than a decade ago.

The oligarch, Vladimir Plahotniuc, 60, was convicted by the Buiucani District Court in Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, on charges ranging from creating and participating in a criminal organization to fraud and money laundering.

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