Man charged in US with stealing $450 million from Mexican billionaire in loan scheme

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Man charged in US with stealing $450 million from Mexican billionaire in loan scheme

2026-05-06 09:04 Last Updated At：09:31

A man with multiple aliases used the name of the famed Astor family to dupe a Mexican billionaire out of around $450 million in a bogus stock-backed loan scheme, according to a newly unsealed U.S. indictment and other court records.

Vladimir Sklarov, 63, also known as Gregory Mitchell and Mark Simon Bentley, set up a sham company, Astor Asset Group, that purported to be a legitimate and experienced loan provider that was connected to the Astors, federal prosecutors said. The storied New York family included John Jacob Astor, one of the wealthiest men in America in the mid-19th century.

Although the indictment unsealed on Monday does not name the victim, court records in litigation in England show it was Ricardo Salinas Pliego, the Mexican TV, retail and banking magnate. Salinas also confirmed he was ripped off by Astor Asset Group in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last year.

“I feel like an absolute idiot. How could I fall for this?” Salinas Pliego told the newspaper.

Sklarov was arrested in Chicago on Saturday on the indictment by a federal grand jury in New York City, prosecutors said. A detention hearing is scheduled for Friday in federal court in Chicago, according to court records.

A public defender representing Sklarov in Chicago did not immediately return phone and email messages Tuesday.

“As alleged, Vladimir Sklarov represented his company to be affiliated with, and have the financial backing of the famed New York Astor family in order to burnish his brand,” Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. “That was a complete lie. Sklarov used false prestige to gain control of hundreds of millions of dollars in stock and then liquidated those shares for his own benefit."

In 2021, Salinas was seeking a $100 million loan that he intended to secure with shares of a company he owned, according to the indictment. Sklarov — using the name Gregory Mitchell and claiming he was “managing director” of Astor — and other, unnamed co-conspirators convinced Salinas that Astor was willing and able to provide the loan, prosecutors said. The other conspirators included a man who also used an alias, Thomas Mellon, whose last name is also that of a prominent and wealthy American family.

Sklarov and other conspirators told Salinas that Astor was originally established from the wealth of John Jacob Astor and that the company had high-profile clients including universities and investment funds, prosecutors said.

Under a deal signed around July 2021, Sklarov agreed to lend Salinas at least $115 million, claiming the money would come from the Astor family, the indictment says. Salinas secured the loan with company shares worth at least $450 million that were supposed to be held but not sold.

Sklarov then sold the company shares, used some of the proceeds to fund the loan to Salinas and kept the remaining hundreds of millions of dollars for himself and other conspirators, federal prosecutors said.

It wasn't until July 2024 that Salinas learned the company shares had been liquidated, the indictment says. A day later, Salinas received a letter from Astor falsely claiming that Salinas had defaulted on the loan, according to the document. A month earlier, Astor wrongly informed Salinas that it had the right to sell the shares, prosecutors said.

Authorities listed Sklarov's hometown as Athens, Greece. The Wall Street Journal reported that Sklarov is a Ukrainian-born American who had been convicted of fraud in the past.

Ohio set for marquee races in the fall. US Senate contest seen as crucial for control of the chamber

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Tuesday’s primary in Ohio set up two marquee matchups in November, a U.S. Senate race that will help determine control of the chamber and a governor’s race featuring a former presidential candidate and the state’s COVID-19-era health director.

The Senate campaign is on track to be among the most expensive this year as Republicans try to hold on to their majority during a difficult midterm cycle. Former Sen. Sherrod Brown easily defeated a challenger in the Democratic primary and will now attempt to unseat Republican Sen. Jon Husted.

Democrats are counting on Brown’s previous popularity with voters to flip the seat. The Senate Leadership Fund, a top GOP super PAC, has pledged $79 million to defend Husted.

“Ohioans are fed up with the corruption and greed in Washington,” Brown, who served three terms in the Senate before losing a reelection bid in 2024, said in a social media post after his win. “They deserve a senator who fights for working families, not CEOs and billionaires.”

Husted, who did not hold an election night party, was unopposed in his primary, a special election to fill the remainder of the six-year Senate term that Vice President JD Vance won in 2022.

In the governor's race, biotech billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy clinched the Republican nomination over a minor challenger and will face off this fall against Democrat Amy Acton, the COVID-era health director.

A newcomer to state politics, Ramaswamy aggressively positioned himself for the job early with the help of an endorsement from President Donald Trump.

“We’re going to revive that American Dream in Ohio once again, with lower costs, bigger paychecks and better schools for all Ohioans,” Ramaswamy said in an evening statement.

Acton, speaking at her victory party, said she is running because people are struggling, working harder than ever and still not getting ahead.

“I refuse to look the other way,” Acton said.

Trump’s endorsement continues to carry weight in Ohio, which favored him three times for president, but Ramaswamy could face headwinds amid the president’s lagging popularity over the war in Iran and the rising cost of living.

Acton, a physician who was unopposed in her primary, has a well-known public profile and robust fundraising. That has Democrats hopeful she can get the party back in the governor’s office for the first time in 20 years.

Ramaswamy, a 2024 GOP primary presidential candidate, swept onto the state's political scene early last year as a mad shuffle was taking place. Then-Sen. Vance was ascending to the vice presidency, and Husted — then the front-running candidate for governor — was being appointed to replace him in Washington.

That opened a window of opportunity at the top of Republicans' statewide ticket.

Ramaswamy’s national profile, tech industry connections and proximity to Trump landed him the Ohio Republican Party’s endorsement. With it, he cleared a prospective field that included the sitting state attorney general, state treasurer and lieutenant governor.

But Democrats saw opportunity with the open governors seat, even as the state, a former bellwether, has tipped convincingly toward Republicans during the Trump era.

Acton became a household name across Ohio in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic as she stood alongside Republican Gov. Mike DeWine during daily coronavirus broadcasts. Her comforting presence during the crisis made her a beloved figure with many Ohioans.

Her campaign also has highlighted her rough childhood, overcoming poverty, homelessness and sexual abuse while growing up in Youngstown.

“I just think she’s real,” said Aaron Weiner, a Cincinnati real estate agent who voted for Acton. “She has had struggles, so I think she can empathize with people who are struggling to get ahead.”

But the administration's aggressive pandemic actions — including shuttering businesses, closing schools and canceling an election — also earned Acton plenty of enemies and made her the occasional target of people upset about the policies, with some armed protesters showing up outside her home.

Ramaswamy's campaign sought to capitalize on the lingering anger over the restrictions with attacks on Acton's role early in the crisis, but he also has connections to the government's response. Ramaswamy was advising the lieutenant governor at the time — Husted — on virus-related economic issues and founded a company that profited off its role developing vaccines.

He faced a long-shot challenge in his primary from Casey Putsch. The engineer and car designer is a YouTube provocateur who trolled Ramaswamy incessantly over his Indian heritage and Hindu faith and painted him as an out-of-touch billionaire “tech bro.”

Cincinnati voter Paul Mussman, who cast his ballot for Ramaswamy, said he considers it an asset that he is a relative newcomer to politics.

Ramaswamy would look at issues “in a fresh way and not based on what their party affiliation is,” Mussman said.

In the wake of a new round of redistricting that slightly favored Republicans, the state also had numerous partisan congressional primaries.

The most heated GOP primary was in the Toledo area’s 9th District for the chance to take on Democratic U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving woman in Congress.

The five-way contest included former state Rep. Derek Merrin, whom Kaptur defeated by less than a percentage point in 2024, as well as an Air National Guard veteran, a healthcare industry worker, a sitting state representative and the former deputy director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Madison Sheahan.

In Democratic U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman's Cincinnati-area district, which his party considers a “must-hold,” the three-way Republican primary included Eric Conroy, a CIA and Air Force veteran who was endorsed by Trump, Vance and Moreno.

Landsman beat back a primary challenge of his own Tuesday from Damon Lynch IV, the grandson of a prominent civil rights leader. Lynch had criticized Landsman for his initial vote against a war powers resolution on the war in Iran, which Landsman later followed up with a favorable vote.

In the Akron area's 13th District, five Republicans including business owner Neil Patel, a 2022 U.S. Senate candidate, were vying for the opportunity to face Democratic U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes.

As a Trump-backed national effort to remake congressional maps in Republicans' favor was underway, Ohio Democrats took a could-have-been-worse approach and passed the map they were given unanimously.

Now party candidates are crowding congressional primaries across the state for the chance to take on sitting Republican representatives, who hold 10 of Ohio's 15 seats.

The newly redrawn 7th District in the Cleveland area attracted eight Democrats hoping to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller, a former senior Trump adviser, in November. Among them was former Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, the Democratic nominee for governor in 2014.

In northeast Ohio's 14th District, former state Supreme Court Justice William O'Neill was among three Democrats seeking to take on Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce. Joyce also has two primary challengers.

Meanwhile six Democrats were on the ballot in the Dayton-area 10th District of Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Turner. There were seven in GOP U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli's 6th District along the Ohio River and five in the 5th District of Republican U.S. Rep. Bob Latta.

Associated Press writer Dylan Lovan in Cincinnati contributed.