Billionaire Salinas Says $110 Million Lender Was Swindler (1)

Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego says he has taken legal action in an alleged multimillion-dollar fraud that’s left shares of his flagship company in the hands of an accused serial scammer.

Under a 2021 loan agreement, Salinas gave 7.2 million shares of his retail and banking conglomerate, Grupo Elektra SAB, to a fund called Astor Asset Management as collateral for a loan to one of his companies that eventually totaled $110 million, according to a press release from Astor earlier this week.

Salinas, 68, said that he’s unable to get the shares back despite offering to pay the loan ...