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Swedish man who conned Pablo Escobar fans with fake flamethrowers sentenced to prison
New York Post • • business
Key Points:
- Swedish conman Olof Kyros Gustafsson, known as “El Silencio,” was sentenced to four years in federal prison for defrauding customers with Escobar Inc., a company selling fake Pablo Escobar-branded merchandise.
- Gustafsson marketed products such as flamethrowers and gold-wrapped smartphones linked to Escobar, but consumers never received the items, only promotional materials or certificates of ownership to deny refunds.
- He pleaded guilty in July 2025 to multiple fraud and money laundering charges, with losses totaling at least $1.3 million, and was fined $25,000 by a Los Angeles court.
- Gustafsson was extradited from Spain to the US in 2023 and has been in custody since March 2025; he previously criticized Sweden for not protecting him from extradition and expressed concerns about US interrogation methods.
- The fraudulent products included copies of Elon Musk’s “Not a Flamethrower” and Samsung Galaxy Fold phones wrapped in gold foil, which were exposed as scams by tech reviewers and the FBI.
