The American teenager nicknamed "affluenza" after a psychologist said he was so wealthy he could not tell right from wrong has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison by a Texas judge for the killing of four people while driving drunk in 2013, the local prosecutor's office says.

In 2013, Ethan Couch, then 16, was sentenced to 10 years of drug-and-alcohol-free probation for intoxication manslaughter, a punishment condemned by critics as privilege rewarded with leniency.

Couch then fled to Mexico with his mother in December after a video emerged on social media that likely showed him in violation of the probation deal reached in juvenile court that kept him out of prison for causing the deadly crash.

Couch, now 19, has been incarcerated in Tarrant County since January after being deported from Mexico — his case was transferred to the adult system in April.

Judge Wayne Salvant reaffirmed the four consecutive jail terms of 180 days for each of the four people killed in 2013, the Tarrant County District Attorney's office said.

Prosecutors had said the sentence was the maximum Couch could receive under terms set when his case was transferred to an adult court from the juvenile system — lawyers for Couch had argued it was excessive.

At his initial trial in juvenile court in 2013, a psychologist testifying on his behalf said Couch was so spoiled by his wealthy parents that he had an inability to tell right from wrong.

The psychologist described the affliction as "affluenza," and the term quickly became a media buzzword.

Attorneys for Couch and prosecutors could not comment on the judge's move due to a gag order he imposed in the case.

Reuters/AFP