A wealthy Mexican businessman has been duped into lending $400 million to a group of fraudsters.
Ricardo Salinas Priego, who heads the telecommunications empire Grupo Salinas, believed he had found the ideal lending partner back in 2021 when he sought financing for a significant Bitcoin venture.
Instead, he became a victim of a “loan to loan” scam that ended up costing him nearly 25% of his net worth.
“I feel so stupid. How could I have been taken in like this?” said the 69-year-old to a news outlet.
At one point, Salinas Priego’s wealth was nearly $16 billion, but he secured loans against his company’s shares as part of a fraudulent scheme.
In July 2024, his company’s stock plummeted by 71% in a single day after it was revealed that he had been scammed, leading to a loss of about $5.5 billion in total, amid a broader depreciation in his company’s value linked to this fraud.
The trouble started all the way back in 1950 when he borrowed the massive amount against Grupo Elektra shares, intending to increase his cryptocurrency investments.
Through a financial adviser in Switzerland, he connected with Astl Capital Fund, which claimed to have connections to a prestigious New York family known for their wealth.
It was reported that over $400 million in stock collateral vanished, sold off by Sklarov, who was masquerading as “Gregory Mitchell.” The evidence suggests that his associates funneled Salinas’s funds into various luxury properties in the U.S. and Europe.
This portfolio included a $645 million penthouse in New York and two opulent villas in Greece.
The operation seemed legitimate at every turn. A person claiming to be Thomas Aster Melon participated in video conferences from a yacht, utilizing an authentic American accent and tying himself to the storied Astor family.
The corporate documentation boasted the impressive lineage of John Jacob Astor, a fur trader who was America’s richest man in the 19th century.
Astor Capital’s facade featured attractive loan terms and polished presentations that exploited historical connections.
However, the truth was much darker. Investigators later uncovered that “Thomas Aster Melon” was actually a Georgian individual with a criminal background. Meanwhile, the mastermind behind the operation was Sklarov, a con artist with a record spanning decades.
His criminal history includes previous frauds, and after serving time for a significant Medicare scam in the ’90s, he attempted to rebuild his life with a new real estate venture, which ultimately failed.
Sklarov had a tendency to reinvent himself, changing his name to avoid discrimination, while also establishing various companies across different countries to evade scrutiny.
Red flags began to emerge when Salinas’s financial institution noticed unusual trading activities related to Elektra stocks in fall 2021.
Despite these warnings, the billionaire’s team continued to place faith in their lenders, partially due to a visit to what seemed to be a legitimate Aster office in New York City.
As suspicion grew, a request for independent verification of the pledged shares was made, which led to the exposure of the scam.
Astor Capital claimed the verification attempts were inappropriate, asserting they had extensive rights over the collateral.
The situation reached a climax when Salinas attempted to advance the loan in mid-2024, ultimately resulting in a default notice from Astor Capital.
According to reports, Sklarov was involved in a larger scheme that impacted several high-profile individuals and entities.
Sklarov had his hands in various operations across the U.S., U.K., and Asia, targeting wealthy victims through similarly reputable-sounding fronts.
The fraud tapped into an area known as securities-based lending, which allows wealthy persons to access funds without liquidating their holdings. While large banks dominate this market, it presents opportunities for less scrupulous actors to exploit those looking for financing.
Salinas’s legal team took swift action, freezing the $400 million in London courts and pursuing access to bank records to trace the funds’ movement.
They uncovered complex financial flows, with a significant amount routed through accounts managed by Sklarov before moving offshore.
Sklarov now resides in Greece, often under aliases, while he continues to assert that he operated within legitimate lending practices and that borrowers are aware their shares might be leased out.
Despite his vast wealth, Salinas Priego expressed genuine shame about falling for this scheme. “I look like a fool,” he admitted, yet he feels compelled to seek justice.
