Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego is in a London High Court fight over a share-backed loan he sought to fund a major bitcoin purchase, after he says a lender presented as elite financial “royalty” sold his Grupo Elektra shares instead of holding them as collateral.

The dispute stems from a stock-backed borrowing arrangement launched in 2021 in which Salinas aimed to raise four hundred million dollars for bitcoin by borrowing against shares in Grupo Elektra.

The lender he engaged was linked to an entity presented as Astor Capital Fund, and the deal documents ran to roughly fifteen thousand five hundred words and included provisions used in collateralised share lending.

Salinas says he later discovered the pledged Elektra shares were not simply held pending repayment.

He alleges they were sold, with about four hundred and twenty million dollars realised from the sales while only about one hundred and four million dollars was advanced to him as a loan.

A forensic review commissioned by Salinas’s side estimated that roughly two hundred and twenty-nine million dollars of sale proceeds ended up with Val Sklarov or related parties and that a further eighty-eight million dollars could not be accounted for.

The same review relied on bank disclosures ordered by a New York court and traced the flow of proceeds following the stock sales.

Salinas’s team says the lender’s public-facing identities were fabricated, including the claim that the chief executive “Thomas Astor-Mellon” was in fact Alexei Skachkov, described as a convicted fraudster, and that “Gregory Mitchell” was an alias for Sklarov, described as a Ukrainian-born American who has operated through multiple names, companies, and jurisdictions.

Sklarov rejects the fraud allegation and says the transactions were permitted under the contract.

He points to language on rehypothecation, arguing that borrowers authorised reuse of collateral and that the contract restricted public exchange trading rather than transfers to other entities that could sell.

Confirmed vs unclear: What is confirmed is that Salinas is pursuing claims in the London High Court over the handling of Elektra shares pledged in a 2021 stock-loan structure tied to a planned bitcoin purchase and that Sklarov disputes wrongdoing and relies on contractual terms / What’s still unclear is the full destination of all proceeds from the Elektra share sales and whether the court will ultimately treat the structure as fraud or a disputed commercial deal governed by the written agreement.

The London proceedings have also focused on investigative tactics used during the case.

Salinas’s side acknowledged engaging private investigators linked to Black Cube to obtain information from one of the lender’s lawyers, including a covert recording of discussions about legal strengths and weaknesses.

A High Court judge criticised the approach as “unethical” while also noting the lawyer’s role in divulging substantial information, and the finding has been used by Sklarov to argue that Salinas’s claim should be struck out on procedural grounds.

The court did not end the fraud claim and the case is set to proceed to a further hearing rather than being resolved by a rapid ruling on liability.

Salinas says the outcome leaves him focused on recovering the Elektra stock, while Sklarov portrays the dispute as an attempt to unwind a deal after risks were taken.

The litigation continues to test how lightly regulated collateralised stock lending operates across jurisdictions, including how rights over pledged shares are exercised and challenged once transfers and sales occur.