Former Nodus International Bank chief executive Tomás Niembro Concha has been sentenced to 112 months in prison for a multimillion-dollar Medialand and ML.Cloud $62m Cybercrime Case | Lawyer Monthly conspiracy and a separate scheme to evade US sanctions connected to Venezuela.
Niembro, 64, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit more than $16.9 million, representing proceeds he obtained from the fraud conspiracy. He pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The US Department of Justice said Niembro and his co-conspirators fraudulently obtained at least $24.9 million from Nodus Bank, a Puerto Rican international bank. According to court filings, they concealed from other board members, executives and the bank’s NatWest Unit RBS Faces £250mn Claim — Lawyer Monthly that certain investments and loans benefited Niembro and board chairman Juan Ramirez
Between 2017 and 2023, prosecutors said Nodus Bank invested $11 million in a Miami-based lender so the money could subsequently be loaned to Niembro and Ramirez for their own benefit. The DOJ said the transactions were concealed through sham investments.
A further part of the scheme involved Nodus Finance, a Miami company jointly owned by Niembro and Ramirez. Between January 2018 and September 2021, prosecutors said the pair fraudulently induced Nodus Bank’s board and comptroller to approve the purchase of at least 47 promissory notes from Nodus Finance worth approximately $25.3 million.
In March 2023, Puerto Rico’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions notified Nodus Bank that it would be placed into liquidation. Prosecutors said Niembro and Ramirez then caused the bank to accept a loan portfolio from Nodus Finance to reduce the debt arising from the promissory notes. The DOJ said the wider conspiracy ultimately led to the bank’s failure in 2023.
Niembro’s guilty plea also covered a separate sanctions-evasion conspiracy involving a person designated by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for providing material support to Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA.
The designated individual’s company owed Nodus Bank approximately $2.5 million under a loan made before sanctions were imposed. According to the DOJ, Niembro and the individual arranged for Nodus Bank to foreclose on a Southampton, New York property after obtaining OFAC authorisation.
They also reached a separate agreement under which the property would be sold back to the sanctioned individual for $4 million through a front company. That additional transaction was not licensed by OFAC and was prohibited under US sanctions, prosecutors said.
For financial institutions and their advisers, the case illustrates how sanctions compliance can become intertwined with wider corporate governance and conflicts-of-interest controls. The conduct admitted by Niembro involved transactions benefiting senior insiders, information withheld from other decision-makers and arrangements designed to circumvent restrictions imposed on a sanctioned individual.
The case also underlines the importance of examining the exact scope of an OFAC authorisation. Permission to complete one stage of a transaction does not necessarily extend to a separate commercial arrangement involving the same sanctioned party.
SRA Fines Ex-Ashley Wilson Partner Wright — Lawyer Monthly create another layer of risk. Where senior executives or directors have a financial interest in counterparties, lenders or assets involved in a deal, effective disclosure and independent oversight become central to both governance and regulatory compliance.
Niembro’s 112-month sentence therefore closes a significant stage of a case combining bank fraud, executive conflicts and sanctions evasion. It also demonstrates the potential criminal consequences when those risks converge inside a regulated financial institution.