Former Nodus Bank chairman sentenced to 62 months for wire fraud conspiracy
The Justice Department says Juan Francisco Ramirez, former board chairman and co-owner of Puerto Rico's Nodus International Bank, was sentenced to 62 months in prison. According to the DOJ, his actions caused the bank to lose at least $23,613,371.
The US Department of Justice announced on October 7, 2026 that Juan Francisco Ramirez, 60, of Miami, Florida, was sentenced to 62 months in prison and three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay forfeiture of approximately $13.6 million. Ramirez was the former board chairman and co-owner of Nodus International Bank (Nodus Bank), a Puerto Rican International Banking Entity. In September 2025, he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
According to the DOJ, from 2017 to 2023 Ramirez conspired with others to invest more than $11 million of Nodus Bank's funds in a Miami-based lender, so that the lender could loan those funds to Ramirez and a co-conspirator. Between January 2018 and September 2021, the bank bought at least 47 promissory notes (written promises to repay a loan) totaling approximately $25.3 million from a Miami-based finance company that Ramirez and the co-conspirator jointly owned. The DOJ says the two men used the loan proceeds for their own benefit.
In early March 2023, the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions of Puerto Rico (OCIF) told Nodus Bank it intended to place the bank into liquidation. Later that month, the bank agreed to a voluntary liquidation. The DOJ says that on April 28, 2023, the bank bought a loan portfolio of approximately $26 million from the Miami-based finance company, and that most of those loans were delinquent, nonperforming and otherwise uncollateralized. According to the DOJ, Ramirez's actions caused Nodus Bank to lose at least $23,613,371.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case, with support from OCIF and the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture. The case was prosecuted by the DOJ Criminal Division's Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section and the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Why it matters to AML professionals
Insider abuse by owners and directors can drain a bank from the inside, and the funds can move through outside companies the insiders control. AML professionals at banks and lenders should treat related-party transactions with the same scrutiny as any other high-risk activity. Ownership links between a bank's insiders and its counterparties are a key point to check during due diligence.
Red flags in this case
- A bank invests its funds in an outside lender that then lends money to the bank's own directors or owners
- A bank repeatedly buys promissory notes from a company owned by its chairman or other insiders
- A bank buys a portfolio of delinquent or uncollateralized loans from an insider-owned company shortly before or during liquidation
- Loan proceeds tied to bank insiders are spent on personal expenses rather than business purposes
Sources
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