With the recent news breaking that US prosecutors have charged Vladimir Sklarov over an alleged $450 million share fraud, the shadowy network behind his enterprise is coming further into the light.
Sklarov, a Ukrainian-born American living in Athens and employing multiple aliases, allegedly convinced Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego to hand over a fortune in shares by claiming his firm had links to the gilded-age Astor family.
From Mexico, to Greece, to a jail cell in Chicago – the Val Sklarov story is truly international, and new information shows it even extends into war-torn Ukraine.
At the centre are two of Sklarov’s Ukrainian companies: America 2030 Capital and America 2030 Real Estate. Sklarov held 5% of both. The other 95% was owned by Tetyana Bazilevich-Vasyliv, a relative connected through Sklarov’s wife’s family. Both firms were liquidated in 2018, just as Sklarov began attracting serious legal attention in the US.
The companies mimic the America 2030 Capital Ltd name used by Sklarov in his earlier alleged share backed lending fraud against
SUNPOWER BUSINESS GROUP PTE LTD.
Further investigations have revealed that, Marta Ushenko, now Chief accountant at the State Treasury Service of Ukraine in Lviv, declared income linked to America 2030 Capital through her husband, Ihor Ushenko, as part of the declarations made by her as a public official.
Ihor Ushenko is the brother of Tetyana Sklarov, Val’s wife, and connections to Sklarov run deep, having previously declared acting as a principal in dozens of Sklarov linked companies connected to litigation arising from alleged share backed lending fraud including Bentley Rothschild Capital Limited, Bear Sterns Companies and Newburgh Capital Ltd.
Marta’s declarations further included seven properties, including two apartments bought within a week of each other, a large land plot, and commercial premises – an eye-catching portfolio for a regional public finance official.
That puts a Ukrainian treasury official’s household directly in receipt of money from a company partly owned by Sklarov.
Then there is the yacht.
A $15 million vessel called Enchantment was reportedly owned by a Seychelles company whose director was Volodymyr Hren – Marta Ushenko’s father. In plain English: the father of a Ukrainian treasury official was formally tied to what appears to have been Sklarov’s luxury yacht.
The family web also stretches to Greece. Sklarov’s Athens home, in the wealthy suburb of Ekali, was bought by Ihor Ushenko, Marta’s husband. Sklarov later appeared in litigation connected to the property as proxy and authorised signatory for Ushenko.
Sklarov is innocent unless proven guilty. But the Ukrainian angle demands scrutiny.
A public official, with a sensitive financial role. An alleged international fraudster. A yacht. A luxury house in Athens. A trail of family-linked companies.
And so far, apparently, very few questions asked.
