{"id":52690,"date":"2025-10-16T12:36:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T12:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/?post_type=press_releases&p=52690"},"modified":"2025-10-16T12:36:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T12:36:13","slug":"lawsuit-accuses-owners-of-puerto-rico-based-international-bank-of-a-multimillion-dollar-fraud-scheme","status":"publish","type":"press_releases","link":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/press-releases\/lawsuit-accuses-owners-of-puerto-rico-based-international-bank-of-a-multimillion-dollar-fraud-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit accuses owners of Puerto Rico-based international bank of a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico \u2014 An international bank based in Puerto Rico has been sued for fraud over an alleged scheme that attorneys say led to the loss of more than $90 million in deposits, affecting hundreds of clients in the U.S., Venezuela and elsewhere.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One of the owners of Nodus International Bank, Juan Francisco Ram\u00edrez, was notified this week of the lawsuit filed Feb. 6 in a federal court in South Florida.<\/p>\n

Attorneys said Tuesday that they expect to notify the other co-owner, Tom\u00e1s Niembro Concha, in upcoming days.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cYou have depositors who have their life savings there, and depositors who have money for dialysis, and they cannot afford it because the money is gone,\u201d said Marta Colomar Garc\u00eda, an attorney with Miami-based Diaz Reus international law firm that filed the lawsuit on behalf of Driven, the Puerto Rico-based trustee overseeing the bank\u2019s liquidation.<\/p>\n

Attorneys for Ram\u00edrez and Niembro, who is believed to be living in Spain, could not be immediately reached for comment.<\/p>\n

Niembro, of Venezuela, owned 60% of Nodus International Bank and served as its president, while Ram\u00edrez owned 40% and served as its board chairman, according to the lawsuit. Their wives are among the accused defendants.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey treated depositor funds at Nodus as their own personal piggy bank,\u201d the lawsuit states of the two owners.<\/p>\n

In 2009, the bank obtained a license to start operating in Puerto Rico and began doing business a year later.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By February 2012, the island\u2019s Office of the Commissioner of Final Institutions began investigating the bank and found violations to anti-money laundering regulations, among other things, according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

By October 2017, the office found \u201cserious financial and managerial deficiencies,\u201d and in March 2023, it presented Nodus with voluntary liquidation alternatives after receiving \u201cmultiple claims from depositors related to Nodus\u2019 refusal to complete fund transfers requested by them in amounts totaling millions of dollars,\u201d the lawsuit stated.<\/p>\n

In October 2023, Puerto Rico\u2019s Office of the Commissioner of Final Institutions appointed a receiver and revoked the bank\u2019s license.<\/p>\n

Driven, the trustee, has found that Nodus owes clients some $92 million and that more than 95% of its loan portfolio has no collateral.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit filed by attorneys for Driven focuses on $28.5 million of the roughly $92 million shortfall lost through two alleged schemes.<\/p>\n

In one of the alleged schemes, the two owners \u201cgrant themselves millions of dollars in personal loans,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

The average loan was about $14,000, with a borrower base of about 500 clients, the lawsuit stated, adding that while the supposed loans were repaid, $2.3 million remains outstanding for Ram\u00edrez and $341,000 for Niembro.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-52690","press_releases","type-press_releases","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases\/52690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press_releases"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press_releases"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/my.legal500.com\/developments\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}