Miami man pleads guilty in fraud that led to collapse of Puerto Rican bank
The former chairman of Nodus International Bank, a Puerto Rican lender long used by Venezuelan clients to move money abroad, has pleaded guilty to orchestrating a scheme that siphoned more than $13.6 million from the institution and ultimately brought about its collapse.
Juan Francisco Ramirez, 60, of Miami, admitted in federal court that he conspired with others to divert bank funds for his own benefit through sham investments, insider loans and fraudulent promissory notes, according to the Justice Department.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison.
“The defendant abused his position as chairman of the board of directors to fraudulently divert funds from the bank that he had been entrusted to run, resulting in the bank’s collapse,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti said in announcing the plea.
Ramirez’s downfall marks the latest chapter in the unraveling of Nodus International, a San Juan-based institution founded in 2009 and largely run by Venezuelans. For years, Nodus served as a financial lifeline for Venezuelan nationals seeking to transfer money out of their country amid U.S. sanctions. But its collapse in 2023 left an estimated $80 million in deposits frozen, sparking lawsuits in Puerto Rico, Miami and across Latin America.
Court documents show that from 2017-23, Ramirez and a co-conspirator concealed insider transactions from other Nodus board members and from Puerto Rico’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions. More than $11 million of the bank’s funds were funneled into a Miami lender that in turn made loans to Ramirez and his partner.
Between 2018 and 2021, the pair also caused the bank to purchase at least 47 promissory notes worth $25.3 million from a Miami-based finance company they jointly owned. The loans supposedly funded businesses and individuals, but instead the money was used to pay personal mortgages, credit card bills and other private investments.
As regulators moved in to liquidate the bank in March 2023, Ramirez and his partner tried to shield themselves from losses by forcing Nodus to buy a $26 million portfolio of largely delinquent loans from their finance company — a maneuver that relieved them of debt to the bank while leaving Nodus burdened with worthless assets.
U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said Ramirez had “abused that trust, siphoning millions for personal gain and leaving behind collapse and loss.” The case left hundreds of depositors, many of them Venezuelans living in South Florida, unable to recover their money. Because Nodus was chartered in Puerto Rico as an international bank, its deposits were not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The U.S. Treasury Department had already ruled in late 2022 that Nodus violated U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, a decision that barred it from normal operations and led to the liquidation process. Regulators later flagged “conflicts of interest” and unauthorized payments to directors and shareholders during the wind-down.
Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, which led the probe, said the fraud did more than destroy a bank. “It undermined public trust,” said Special Agent in Charge Emmanuel Gomez.
Ramirez agreed to forfeit at least $13.6 million as part of his plea agreement. His sentencing date has not been set.
