CEO who used name of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar to sell fake gold phones sentenced to 4 years
Drug trafficker Pablo Escobar and his wife Maria Victoria in 1983, in Colombia. (Photo by Eric VANDEVILLE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES - The CEO of Escobar Inc., has been sentenced to 48 months in federal prison for operating an international fraud scheme.
Using the likeness of late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, Gustafsson marketed non-existent consumer goods, tricking buyers and payment processors out of millions, according to officials.
What we know:
Swedish national Olof Kyros Gustafsson, 32, was also fined $25,000 and ordered to pay $1,300,193 in restitution. As part of the resolution, Gustafsson agreed to forfeit crime proceeds, including funds currently held in a Swedish bank account.
This sentencing follows his July 2025 guilty plea to six federal charges, including conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, substantive wire and mail fraud, and multiple money laundering counts.
As the CEO of Puerto Rico-registered Escobar Inc., Gustafsson held successor-in-interest rights to the persona of Pablo Escobar, the late head of the Medellín Cartel.
From July 2019 to November 2023, he leveraged that notoriety to market items like the "Escobar Flamethrower," gold foldable cellphones, and a physical cryptocurrency called "Escobar Cash" at prices far lower than legitimate market alternatives.
Customers paid via PayPal, Stripe, Coinbase, and direct wire transfers, but the items were never manufactured or delivered.
To perpetuate the scheme, Gustafsson sent gold-foil-wrapped Samsung phones to tech reviewers to drum up public demand.
When paying customers demanded refunds for non-existent goods, Gustafsson mailed them items like a "Certificate of Ownership" or promotional books instead.
He then showed proof of those mailings to payment processors to falsely claim the orders had been fulfilled, blocking customer refund requests.
Proceeds were laundered across international funnel accounts in the United States, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates.
What we don't know:
The court documentation does not specify the exact total number of individual consumers who fell victim to the fraudulent product listings between 2019 and 2023.
The Source: This report is based directly on official U.S. federal court records detailing the guilty plea, sentencing, and underlying criminal investigation of Olof Kyros Gustafsson. Information regarding the specifics of the scam, international extradition, financial forfeiture, and judicial orders comes from documented filings presented before U.S. District Judge Fernando L. Aenlle-Rocha.