THE Russian oligarch who sold Harry and Meghan their new £11m mansion has admitted to stealing millions using a “magic pen” scam.
Sergey Grishin, 54, who also owned the famous property used in gangster movie Scarface, admitted to robbing banks in the 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed.
The tycoon made the confession painting himself as a “anti-Russian hero” in a recorded video message to US authorities in a bid to land American citizenship, Moscow media reports.
In a recorded video, he explained how he used special-disappearing ink to turn $2m cheques into $250m.
He said: “We come to the bank and ask: ‘Please write us a check for $ 2 million. Just use my pen, please. I love her very much.’
“’No question,’ the bank replies. ‘Give us your pen.’ And he writes a check.”
Grishin says the pen has vanishing ink meaning “you can make the first entry disappear.”
He said: “You now have an official, genuine bank document with a stamp, signature and date.
“All you need is to enter any number you want in the ‘amount’ field.
“For example, $250 million. And you come to any other bank with this Central Bank check, present it and get money that you have never owned before.”
In his 2018 video confession, Grishin addressed US President Donald Trump directly while claiming he was being hunted by the Russian mafia and the Kremlin.
He said: “I am being persecuted by the Russian criminal world and Russian authorities.
“I want to be safe.”
And while oligarch has an estimated fortune of $500m – he started his business career as a humble hot dog and cookie seller in Moscow after leaving university with a degree in Physics.
The tycoon, who has made been married three times, endured a difficult split from his last wife Anna Fedoseeva.
She moved to California with him where he claims he showered her with gifts spending more than $5m on her.
But after marrying in March 2017, they split 11 months later, with Grishin alleging that Anna stole millions from him.
In response, her divorce lawyer claims the oligarch admitted to having a personality disorder where he has “three personalities living ins mind – one of which is called ‘Volt’.”
The businessman later began dating Ekaterina Loginova who has been described as a “porn webcam model”, it has been reported.
However, he then filed a criminal lawsuit against Loginova and a former assistant Svetlana Grachyova accusing them of defrauding him.
Yet, they deny the claims and allege that Grishin threatened to kill with murder, prison and accused them of being lovers, local media in Russia reports.
