The former CEO of Nodus International Bank has pleaded guilty for leading a scheme that fraudulently siphoned at least $24.9 million from the now closed Puerto Rico-based institution.
In a statement, the US Justice Department says Tomás Niembro Concha conspired with others to conceal conflicts of interest in certain investments and loans that ultimately led to the collapse of Nodus Bank in 2023.
Court filings show that Niembro and the board chairman, Juan Ramirez, caused the bank to invest $11 million in a Miami-based lender so they could loan the fund for their benefit. The duo also induced Nodus Bank’s board and comptroller to agree to buy at least 47 promissory notes worth about $25.3 million from Nodus Finance, which they jointly owned.
Following a notice from the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico (OCIF) that Nodus Bank would be placed into liquidation in March 2023, Niembro and Ramirez also caused the bank to accept a loan portfolio from Nodus Finance to pay down the debt from the promissory notes.
Niembro is also involved in a Venezuela sanctions evasion scheme. The former bank executive is accused of conspiring with others to conduct financial transactions with Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, which the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) flagged as a Specially Designated National (SDN).
Assistant Attorney General A.Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division says that Niembro’s acts undermine the integrity of the financial system, threaten economic prosperity and harm national security.
“The defendant abused his position as CEO, turning the bank he managed into his own personal ATM and unlawfully transacting with a sanctioned individual.”
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