MEXICO CITY/NEW YORK — Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, one of Latin America’s wealthiest men and the owner of Grupo Salinas, has admitted falling victim to an elaborate international scam that cost him $5.5 billion in a single day, the Wall Street Journal reported. The scheme was orchestrated by fraudsters posing as descendants of the illustrious Astor family — once among America’s wealthiest dynasties.
“I feel like an idiot,” said the 69-year-old telecom and retail tycoon, whose net worth plunged by nearly a quarter, from $16 billion to around $10.5 billion, following a collapse in Grupo Elektra shares linked to the scam.
How the Scam Unfolded
In 2021, Salinas Pliego sought to raise capital for a Bitcoin investment by borrowing $400 million against shares in Grupo Elektra, a company his father founded in 1950. Introduced via a Swiss financial adviser, he was connected to “Astor Capital Fund,” a fraudulent outfit falsely claiming lineage to John Jacob Astor, the 19th-century fur tycoon whose fortune and name inspired the Waldorf Astoria hotel brand.
Astor Capital offered an unusually attractive 1.15% interest rate, impressive promotional materials, and a high-end website complete with a lion crest and a corporate video. The operation appeared legitimate — until it wasn’t.
The Real Faces Behind the Fraud
The supposed “Thomas Astor Mellon,” head of the fund, turned out to be Alexey Skachkov, a Georgian resident with a criminal record, including charges of jewelry theft and prescription fraud. The mastermind was identified as Vladimir Sklarov, a Ukrainian-American con artist using multiple aliases, including “Gregory Mitchell” and “Mark Simon Bentley.” Sklarov has a long history of fraud — including an $18 million Medicare scam in the 1990s.
Stock Dump Sparks Catastrophic Losses
The fake fund sold off the $400 million in Elektra shares, triggering a 71% stock price crash in July 2024. The impact:
- $5.5 billion wiped from Salinas Pliego’s net worth
- $4 billion erased from Elektra’s market value
“I feel like an absolute idiot. How could I fall for this?” Salinas Pliego told the Wall Street Journal.
Luxury Properties and Offshore Accounts
Proceeds from the scam were traced to extravagant real estate purchases:
- A $6.45 million penthouse in New York
- A $2.67 million mansion in Virginia
- A $6 million château in France
- Multiple Greek villas
Despite some early red flags — including unusual trading activity in Elektra shares in 2021 — fake reassurances from “Astor Capital,” including visits to seemingly authentic New York offices, convinced Salinas’s team the deal was sound.
When he attempted to prepay the loan in mid-2024, the fund hit him with a default notice, citing technical breaches like verification issues and a Mexican government probe — further exposing the scam.
A Global Web of Victims
Salinas is not alone. The Journal reports that Sklarov and his team allegedly managed $750 million in collateralized stock from unsuspecting clients across the U.S., U.K., and Asia, operating under various names, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt Capital Management.
The scheme targeted the $4.3 trillion securities-based lending market, which experts say lacks adequate oversight and is ripe for abuse.
Salinas’s legal team has since frozen $400 million in assets via a London court and is working to track the funds — many of which were funneled through Sklarov’s New York-based attorney to offshore accounts.
Sklarov, now believed to be living in Greece aboard a yacht named “Enchantment,” denies wrongdoing. He claims all borrowers knew their shares could be lent to third parties — a defense Salinas and others flatly reject.
Broader Implications
The scam has spotlighted the growing risks in loosely regulated global finance, where impressive branding and fake pedigrees can still deceive even seasoned billionaires. For Salinas Pliego, it’s a costly reminder that legacy names and glossy presentations can hide financial landmines.
