Vladimir Sklarov, a man prosecutors say used multiple aliases and the name of the storied Astor family to run a sham loan operation, was charged in federal court with stealing about $450 million from Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego, according to a newly unsealed U.S. indictment and other court records.
Federal prosecutors said Sklarov, 63, also known as Gregory Mitchell and Mark Simon Bentley, was arrested in Chicago on Saturday. They said the arrest came on the indictment returned by a federal grand jury in New York City, and that a detention hearing is scheduled for Friday in federal court in Chicago, court records show. A public defender who represents Sklarov did not immediately return phone and email messages Tuesday.
Prosecutors said Sklarov used the brand association with the Astors to make his scheme seem legitimate, including by setting up a sham company called Astor Asset Group. Prosecutors said the company was presented as an experienced loan provider connected to the Astors and that the storied New York family, including John Jacob Astor, was used as part of the pitch.
Although the indictment unsealed on Monday did not name Salinas Pliego as the alleged victim, court records in litigation in England described him as the person targeted, according to the Associated Press report. Salinas Pliego later said publicly that he was taken in by Astor Asset Group, telling the Wall Street Journal last year, “I feel like an absolute idiot. How could I fall for this?”
In a statement, Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said, “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,” and that “That was a complete lie.” Clayton said Sklarov “used false prestige to gain control of hundreds of millions of dollars in stock and then liquidated those shares for his own benefit.”
Prosecutors said the case stems from a loan effort in 2021, when 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 alias Gregory Mitchell and calling himself a “managing director” of Astor—along with other co-conspirators convinced Salinas that Astor would provide the loan, and they described Astor as connected to high-profile clients, including universities and investment funds.
Under a deal prosecutors said Sklarov signed around July 2021, Sklarov agreed to lend Salinas at least $115 million, with prosecutors saying Sklarov claimed the money would come from the Astor family. Prosecutors said Salinas secured the loan with company shares worth at least $450 million that were supposed to be held but not sold, and they said Sklarov instead sold the shares, used some proceeds to fund the loan to Salinas, and kept the remaining proceeds for himself and other conspirators.
Prosecutors said it was not until July 2024 that Salinas learned the shares had been liquidated. The indictment said that the day after learning this, Salinas received a letter from Astor falsely claiming he had defaulted on the loan, and prosecutors said Astor had previously, a month earlier, wrongly informed Salinas that it had the right to sell the shares.
Authorities listed Sklarov’s hometown as Athens, Greece, according to the Associated Press report. The Wall Street Journal reported that Sklarov is a Ukrainian-born American who had been convicted of fraud in the past.