Ricardo Salinas Pliego affirmed that the conflict over the tax debt he faces is not due to evasion, but rather to legal and administrative differences that must be resolved in accordance with the law.
Mexico City, October 26 (However).- During the celebration of his birthday, Ricardo Salinas Pliegoowner of Group Salinasmade public a letter that he sent to the President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo in October 2024, in which he assured that his companies are willing to pay what corresponds in tax matters, but demanded that previous agreements be respected and the smear campaigns against them stop.
In your message, Salinas Pliego declared: “We are tired of so much litigation. We want to end this nightmare to continue creating value for our clients and guarantee the economic stability of more than 200 thousand families in the group.”
He also announced the publication of two documents: a letter sent a year ago to Claudia Sheinbaum and a letter addressed to the Tax Administration Service (SAT) a few days ago, in which he requested to be informed how much he must pay to settle the debt “in less than 10 days.”
“We want to finish and we want to pay,” he said before thousands of attendees who gathered at the Mexico City Arena to accompany him at the event called “Celebrate Uncle Richie’s 70th.” “Now I am willing to make this effort to turn the page,” he added.
Grupo Salinas accompanied the dissemination of the letter with the message: “It is time for all of Mexico to know the truth: at Grupo Salinas we do want to pay.”
It is time for all of Mexico to know the truth: in #GrupoSalinas YES WE WANT TO PAY.
A few minutes ago, during his birthday celebration, our founding president @RicardoBSalinasreleased a series of documents that we make public today.
First of all, the letter… pic.twitter.com/btE6NDawCP
— Salinas Group (@gruposalinas) October 26, 2025
In the letter, the businessman pointed out that the conflict with the SAT has continued for years due to “legitimate differences having been maintained in the face of the failed attempts at double charges and excessive surcharges” that they intend to impose on him.
“These are old issues on which we have historically maintained legitimate differences in the face of the failed attempts at double charges and excessive surcharges that the SAT and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office try to impose on us,” he justified.
Salinas Pliego maintained that during the previous six-year term, led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), negotiation tables were established with the federal government, led by Arturo Medina, then Attorney General, and Adán Augusto López, today former Secretary of the Interior: “Tables were established, arguments were presented, terms were negotiated and the conclusion was an agreement, prepared by the Government itself.”
“I assure you that what I say is true, Madam President. I attach hereto a copy of the agreement, where you will see that the terms consisted of that, after eliminating abuses and inconsistencies, we conceded that the tax losses were not deductible, for which we were willing to pay seven thousand 600 million pesos.”
As part of that negotiation, Grupo Salinas made a first payment of two thousand 700 million pesos in October 2022, corresponding to a tax credit from 2006. However, it accused that the SAT failed to send complete files to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), which prevented a comprehensive resolution.
“It was this perverse maneuver that prevented the Supreme Court from fully resolving our cases; it was because of the SAT that our file was ‘kept in the drawer’ for months,” he said.
He also defended the use of legal challenges against ministers of the Court, arguing that “the challenge is a legal and legitimate instrument to protect the human right that we all have to be judged by an impartial body.”
“The most recent wave of lies has revolved around the impediments that we legitimately presented against a group of ministers of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), based on what our detractors have wanted to sow the idea that it is an illicit delaying tactic or strategy,” he stated.
The letter concludes with a call for dialogue: “I want to reiterate my absolute willingness and interest so that, together, we return to the path of dialogue and build the path to a resolution, always within the legal framework, that allows the Government to collect what is appropriate and our companies to pay exclusively what is correct.”
The Ricardo Salinas Pliego celebration, held last night, included live music, scenery inspired by “Rico McPato”, decorations with his face and a stand to take photos like news anchors. Despite the display, the venue did not look full, as shown in the images shared by Grupo Salinas.
Accumulated debts and litigation
The week was also marked by a ruling by the Tenth Collegiate Court in Civil Matters that revoked precautionary measures in favor of Salinas Pliego, forcing him to pay $580 million to foreign creditors.
The debt originated in 2017, when TV Azteca issued bonds for 400 million dollars. In 2021, the company stopped making payments, which led to litigation with American investors, represented by the Akin firm, which denounced the use of “false and easily refuted reasons” to avoid compliance with the contract.
Furthermore, previously, Bloomberg revealed that the businessman posted a bail of 25 million dollars in the United States (US) to avoid being arrested for a debt with AT&T, derived from the sale of his telecommunications business in 2014. Judge Andrea Masley declared him in contempt and ordered him to pay 20 million dollars or face prison.
“The information we have is what everyone knows. We do not have particular information. It is being requested. It is a New York Court, derived from a sale that this businessman made of a telephone company. Nothing more than it turns out that he sold it with debts to the treasury at the time. So the complaint is filed by the person who sold it to him in the United States. It is a deposit that he has to pay in order not to be arrested. More like a fraud that he committed, that is, he sells without informing all the conditions of the sale,” Sheinbaum Pardo detailed at the time.
Added to this is the fiscal debt accumulated with the SAT, estimated at 74 billion pesos (more than four billion dollars), according to financial reports. In total, Salinas Pliego faces obligations of more than five billion dollars between tax litigation, commercial lawsuits and unpaid bonuses.
The confrontation with Sheinbaum
The letter was also disseminated in the midst of a public escalation between the businessman and the head of the Executive Branch. A while ago, Salinas Pliego called Sheinbaum a “governmentist,” and threatened to sue her in Mexico and the US for defamation.
In response, the federal president declared at the time: “Beyond the debts, the defamation that he does every day through his television station or his social networks,” and raised questions about the origin of his businesses: “Why is there no investigation into how he bought the television station? How much was he benefited by Fobaproa? It is a question. These are questions. Who sued him to return the money for the purchase of the television station? How does he have ADN40? How did you acquire a part of Mexicana shares? They are just questions, so that it is also known.”
Grupo Salinas responded with a statement in which he accused “slander and defamation” from “the highest tribune of the country,” and considered that it was an “authoritarian onslaught” disguised as a tax dispute. He also reported that he has been mentioned more than 200 times in presidential conferences.