DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A Dubai court has sentenced an American businessman to 15 years in prison after convicting him on theft and fraud charges.

Abu Dhabi government-owned daily The National said Zack Shahin was sentenced Sunday at the Dubai Criminal Court over a 2007 Texas land deal. Three other Americans received similar sentences in absentia. The defendants were also fined 56 million dirhams ($15.3 million).

The U.S. Embassy had no immediate comment. Shahin's lawyers could not be reached.

Shahin is a former head of Dubai-based property company Deyaar Development who was detained in a 2008 embezzlement probe. He staged a hunger strike in 2012, then escaped to Yemen after being granted bail but was caught and returned to Dubai.

He was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in a separate judgment in 2014.