Former bank CEO pleads guilty in Venezuela-linked fraud and sanctions violations
By 
Oscar Gonzalez2026-03-27T22:52:00
A former bank chief executive has pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court to charges tied to a multimillion-dollar fraud and sanctions evasion scheme linked to Venezuela. This follows the U.S. removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro from the country, and has opened up the country for trading oil and other natural resources.
Tomás Niembro Concha, the former CEO of Puerto Rico-based Nodus International Bank, admitted to participating in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to violate U.S. sanctions laws, according to a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) press release on March 20. Niembro and other conspirators used deceptive practices, including misrepresentations to financial institutions, to facilitate transactions to enrich themselves and bypass sanctions laws involving Venezuela. The schemes added up to more than $24 million for Niembro and resulted in the collapse of the Nodus Bank.
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