Ricardo Salinas Pliego needed to place $400 million into Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) in 2021.
Regardless of being Mexico’s third richest man, he didn’t have the money, so he borrowed in opposition to his shares in Grupo Elektra; pledging $416 million as collateral for a $150 million mortgage.
His instincts about Bitcoin had been right, the one drawback was the lender turned out to be a fraud.
The ‘Astor Household’ That Wasn’t
The agency known as itself Astor Capital Fund, claiming ties to the storied Astor dynasty.
Its CEO, “Thomas Astor-Mellon,” launched himself on a video name from what gave the impression to be a yacht.
He was really Alexei Skachkov: a person with prior convictions for forging prescriptions and stealing jewellery.
The managing director, “Gregory Mitchell,” was Val Sklarov, a Ukrainian-born American with a responsible plea for Medicare fraud and a path of failed companies throughout a number of jurisdictions.
The primary pink flag was hiding in plain sight. The official seal on the contract bore the Roman numerals “MVMVIII”, a date that doesn’t exist.
The Theft
Somewhat than maintain the Elektra shares as collateral, Sklarov’s operation merely offered them.
All $420 million price.
Round $104 million was used to fund Salinas’s mortgage. An estimated $229 million ended up with Sklarov or related events, in line with forensic investigators. One other $88 million can’t be accounted for.
“It was the right fraud,” Salinas advised the Monetary Occasions. “The man took my inventory, offered it, and gave me the cash as a mortgage.”
The flood of shares onto a thinly traded market cratered Elektra’s inventory value, and it was finally suspended from buying and selling altogether.
When Salinas tried to repay early in July 2024, Sklarov declared him in default as a substitute.
He By no means Misplaced The Religion
Whether or not or not the unique $400 million guess was ever absolutely executed, Salinas by no means stopped shopping for Bitcoin.
By early 2025 he held 70% of his liquid portfolio in BTC. By August that had risen to 80%, and he was publicly contemplating going to 100%, in line with Decrypt.
BTC hit an all-time excessive of $126,000 in October 2025.
“Purchase all the pieces you’ll be able to,” he mentioned on the time, “it’s not going wherever besides up.”
What Prediction Markets Say Now
Bitcoin is buying and selling at round $67,000 at the moment, down 47% from its October peak.
Polymarket merchants are skeptical of a near-term restoration, giving only a 18% probability of BTC clearing $75,000 earlier than March and 21% probability of an all time excessive by the tip of the yr.
Salinas would seemingly disagree. He posted on X in October 2025 that Bitcoin will “go up at the least 14 occasions” to $1.5 million, sufficient to match gold’s complete market cap. “After which it should proceed to outperform,” he added.
He’s pursuing Sklarov via England’s Excessive Courtroom. His query is straightforward: “The place is my inventory?”
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