By Safe Investment August 1, 2025
Even big businessmen with billion dollar wealth and world-wide fame can become victims of fraud if they are not cautious. This has been proved recently by the case of Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego. A shiny website, name of a big American family, videos of a magnificent office and the lure of a loan at a very low interest rate...
Even big businessmen with billions of dollars of wealth and a worldwide reputation can fall prey to fraud if they are not careful. This has recently been proved by the story of Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego. A shiny website, the name of a big American family, videos of a magnificent office and the lure of a loan at a very low interest rate… all this deceived even an experienced businessman like Salinas. When the truth came out, not only was his dream of investing in Bitcoin shattered, but his company's shares also fell by more than 70%, causing huge losses to both him and the company.
Rs 45000 crores were swindled
Salinas, the owner of Grupo Salinas and one of the richest people in Latin America, has revealed that he has lost 25% of his total wealth, i.e. about 5.5 billion dollars, i.e. more than 45,000 crores, after falling into the trap of an international gang of fraudsters. Now Salinas is fighting against this fraud network spread across the world through his legal team. However, now this case has become a big lesson for other investors.
Said in the interview - he felt he was a fool
Mexican billionaire and Grupo Salinas owner Ricardo Salinas Pliego has himself admitted that he became a victim of a very cleverly planned fraud, in which 25% of his total wealth i.e. about 5.5 billion dollars, about 45 thousand crores rupees were lost. He made this disclosure in an interview to the Wall Street Journal and said that I feel like I am a fool.
How did the fraud happen?
In 2021, Salinas started the process of taking a loan of 400 million dollars, so that he could invest in bitcoin. This loan was being taken by mortgaging the shares of his company Grupo Elektra. He got this loan from a Swiss financial advisor, who named a company named Astor Capital Fund, which was said to be associated with the American Astor family.
1.15% interest offered on loan
Under this scheme, a person named Thomas Esther Malone came forward, who offered loans at just 1.15% interest rate. The company's website, branding, video of the New York office, everything looked very professional and real.
Investigation revealed that Thomas Esther Malone is actually Ukrainian criminal Alexey Skachkov, who lives in Georgia, USA and has already been accused in cases like drug and jewelry theft. But the real mastermind is Vladimir Sklarov, a Ukrainian-born American citizen, whose criminal record dates back to the 1990s. Through this scheme, Sklarov took over the shares of Salinas' company Elektra and sold them in the market.
Elektra's stock fell 71%, loss of billions
The impact of this fraud was so huge that Elektra's stock fell by 71%, wiping out USD 5.5 billion from Salinas' net worth and USD 4 billion from the company's market value.
The conspiracy behind the glitz
Initially, some irregularities were seen in Elektra's trading, but Astor Capital's glitz and professional attitude dispelled suspicion. When Salinas tried to repay the loan ahead of time in July 2024, Astor Capital handed over a default notice. Also, the Mexican government also started an investigation.
Not just Salinas, many people are trapped
According to the Wall Street Journal report, Sklarov has grabbed shares worth USD 750 million from several investors from the US, UK and Asia. Salinas' legal team has had USD 400 million frozen by a London court and is now tracking where the money has gone.
Where is Sklarov?
According to reports, Sklarov is currently living on a yacht called Enchantment off the coast of Greece. He denies any wrongdoing and says all investors were aware that their shares could be transferred to third parties under the agreement.
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