Former Nodus Bank CEO sentenced to over 10 years for fraud, Venezuela sanctions evasion

WASHINGTON, September 21, 2026 — Niembro, 64, a Spanish and Venezuelan national, was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to forfeit more than $16.9 million. Prosecutors said he led a scheme to fraudulently obtain at least $24.9 million from Nodus Bank, a Puerto Rican international bank.

According to court filings, Niembro and others concealed investments and loans that benefited him and Nodus Bank board Chairman Juan Ramirez. From 2017 to 2023, the bank invested $11 million in a Miami-based lender that then provided loans benefiting the two executives. Prosecutors also said the bank was induced to purchase at least 47 promissory notes worth about $25.3 million from Nodus Finance, a company jointly owned by Niembro and Ramirez. Nodus Bank ultimately failed in 2023.

The sanctions component involved prohibited transactions between 2021 and 2023 with an unnamed individual designated by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control for providing material support to Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA.

The sanctioned individual's company owed Nodus Bank about $2.5 million. Niembro and the individual obtained OFAC authorization for the bank to foreclose on the individual's Southampton, New York, home, but prosecutors said they separately arranged for the bank to sell the property back for $4 million through a front company. That transaction was prohibited under U.S. sanctions and was not licensed by OFAC.

Niembro pleaded guilty in March to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case with support from Puerto Rico's banking regulator and the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture.