Board Chairman and Co-Owner of Puerto Rican Bank Sentenced in Multimillion-Dollar Wire Fraud Conspiracy

The former board chairman and co-owner of Nodus International Bank (Nodus Bank), a Puerto Rican International Banking Entity, was sentenced today to 62 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and to pay forfeiture of approximately $13.6 million, which represents the value of the proceeds he derived from the wire fraud conspiracy. Juan Francisco Ramirez, 60, of Miami, Florida, led a scheme to fraudulently obtain more than $23.6 million from Nodus Bank. 

“This defendant abused the trust of his bank’s depositors, and when the bank went under, innocent people lost their savings,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Criminal Division won’t stand for it. We will use every resource at our disposal to protect this country’s financial system and the decent, hardworking people who rely on it.”

“Ramirez was entrusted to lead a bank. Instead, he looted it. He secretly steered millions of dollars in bank funds to benefit himself and his associates, causing nearly $24 million in losses and contributing to the bank’s collapse,” said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida. “Today, he was sentenced to 62 months in federal prison and ordered to forfeit more than $13 million. This sentence sends a clear message: those who abuse positions of trust to enrich themselves will be held accountable.” 

“Financial frauds can be complicated, but the law is simple: do your business honestly and protect your depositors, or you will be brought to justice,” said Acting Special Agent in Charge Charles Miller of the IRS Criminal Investigation Florida Field Office. “IRS Special Agents, alongside our partners, will keep bringing transparency to complex financial crimes and protecting confidence in our banking system.”

In September 2025, Ramirez pleaded guilty to an information charging one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.