Criticism[edit]
Ricardo Salinas is one of Latin America’s leading corporate figures and entrepreneurs, although he has been involved in a series of political and financial scandals (which include investigations by the American Securities and Exchange Commission and the Mexican Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores).[4] Mr. Salinas was charged by the American Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2005 with being engaged in an elaborate scheme to conceal Salinas’s role in a series of transactions through which he personally profited by $109 million. [5] The SEC complaint also alleged that Salinas and Padilla sold millions of dollars of TV Azteca stock while Salinas’s self-dealing remained undisclosed to the market place.[6] This was settled in September 2006 with Mr. Salinas required to pay $7.5M while not admitting guilt. As part of the settlement, Salinas Pliego was forbidden for five years to serve as officer or director of any United States publicly listed company.[7]
He is also accused of taking over with violence the facilities of CNI Canal 40 in 2003. The latter used to be an independent TV channel which broadcast from the north of Mexico City.[8][9] In February 2012 while representatives of the CFC ( Federal Competition Commission ) were notifying the headquarters of Iusacell their unfavorable resolution against the union between this company and Televisa, lawyers from Iusacell decided to change the physical numbers of the building in order to avoid receiving the notification.[10] In addition, his banks have been accused of abusing microlending practices in Mexico. This is a practice that was intended to help low-income people become entrepreneurs, but is often abused by charging poor people unreasonable interest rates.
