The former chief executive of Nodus International Bank has been sentenced to 112 months in prison in a federal case involving wire-fraud conspiracy and evasion of U.S. sanctions related to Venezuela, the Justice Department announced September 21, 2026.
Tomás Niembro Concha, 64, also received three years of supervised release and was ordered to forfeit more than $16.9 million, according to DOJ. The announcement concerns a sentence following a guilty plea—not an indictment being presented as proof of guilt. DOJ sentencing announcement
The case has a direct Miami connection even though Nodus Bank was based in Puerto Rico. Prosecutors described transactions involving a Miami lender and a Miami-based company linked to the former bank leadership. DOJ said Niembro led a scheme to obtain at least $24.9 million fraudulently from the bank.
His March 19 guilty plea covered two conspiracy counts: wire fraud and violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The earlier plea announcement provides the procedural background to the new sentencing development. It described concealed insider benefits from bank investments and loans, rather than an ordinary business loss being turned into a criminal case. DOJ’s earlier plea account
According to that account, bank money was routed through investments intended to benefit Niembro and another insider. The conduct was concealed from other decision-makers and the Puerto Rican regulator. The case also involved transactions with a person sanctioned for supporting Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA.
The sentencing release describes a sanctions-related property transaction in Southampton, New York. Prosecutors said authorization to foreclose on a property did not authorize a separate arrangement to sell it back through a front company. That distinction illustrates a central feature of sanctions compliance: permission for one transaction does not necessarily cover a different transaction attached to it.
The prosecution involved the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, with IRS Criminal Investigation and Puerto Rican regulatory support. This edition relies on DOJ’s public case summaries; it does not claim to have independently reviewed the full sentencing docket.
For readers tracking accountability, keep the different numbers separate. The prison term is 112 months, or nine years and four months. The forfeiture amount concerns proceeds attributed to Niembro. Neither number should be casually substituted for the total losses or the value of every transaction described in the case.
The broader significance is a gatekeeper becoming the subject of a criminal prosecution. Banking authority carries access to other people’s money and responsibility for compliance. Here, the new development is a documented sentence after admitted criminal conduct—not a prediction about any other person’s liability.
