The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday that the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Puerto Rican-based Nodus International Bank (Nodus Bank), Tomás Niembro Concha, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit both a multimillion-dollar wire fraud scheme and to evade U.S.-imposed sanctions on Venezuela.
“The defendant abused his position as CEO, turning the bank he managed into his own personal ATM and unlawfully transacting with a sanctioned individual,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the DOJ’s Criminal Division said.
“The defendant’s crimes undermine the integrity of our financial system, threaten economic prosperity, and harm national security. The Criminal Division will investigate and prosecute fraudsters to protect financial markets and promote safety and prosperity for all Americans,” Duva added.
According to U.S. court filings, Concha, of Miami, Fla., used his position as CEO to conspire with others to funnel more than $24 million from Nodus Bank and to hide conflicts of interest, which led to the bank’s failure in 2023.
“Niembro pleaded guilty to a two-count Information charging conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA),” according to the press release published on the DOJ website.
U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida also confirmed that the scheme involved efforts by Concha to evade U.S. sanctions linked to Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA.
The court filings reveal that from 2017 to 2023, Concha, Board Chairman Juan Ramirez, and other co-conspirators loaned themselves $11 million for their own benefit by having Nodus Bank invest $11 million in a Miami-based lender.
“Between 2021 and 2023, Niembro conspired with others to conduct prohibited financial transactions with an individual designated as a Specially Designated National (SDN) by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for providing material support to Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA),” the court filings add.
