Vladimir Sklarov Charged With Fraud in $450 Million Loan Deal Involving Ricardo Salinas Pliego

Vladimir Sklarov was arrested in Chicago on Saturday after a federal grand jury in New York City issued an indictment that was unsealed on Monday, accusing him of using the name of the famed Astor family to defraud Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego of around $450 million.

Sklarov, 63, who also used the aliases Gregory Mitchell and Mark Simon Bentley, set up a sham company named Astor Asset Group. The firm purported to be a legitimate loan provider connected to the Astor family, which included John Jacob Astor, one of the wealthiest men in America in the mid-19th century.

In 2021, Salinas Pliego was seeking a $100 million loan to be secured with shares of a company he owned. Using the name Gregory Mitchell and claiming he was “managing director” of Astor, Sklarov and other unnamed co-conspirators convinced Salinas Pliego that Astor was willing and able to provide the loan. One co-conspirator used the alias Thomas Mellon.

Sklarov and the co-conspirators told Salinas Pliego that Astor was originally established from the wealth of John Jacob Astor and had high-profile clients including universities and investment funds. A deal was signed around July 2021 under which Sklarov agreed to lend Salinas Pliego at least $115 million, claiming the loan money would come from the Astor family.

Sklarov sold the company shares, used some proceeds to fund the loan to Salinas Pliego, and kept the remaining hundreds of millions of dollars for himself and co-conspirators, federal prosecutors said. It wasn’t until July 2024 that Salinas Pliego learned the company shares had been liquidated.