Pérez said it began with Gabina Rodriguez, an attorney who took control of Eastern National Bank when she was appointed as receiver of Corpofin CA, the ultimate parent company of the bank. She then stacked the board with people Pérez called “Venezuelan government agents.”
Pérez said that at the time the Eastern National Bank board members were opening Banco de Venezuela accounts, Citibank, a bank much larger than the small Miami bank, had decided to close its Banco de Venezuela accounts because of the risks involved in dealing with a bank owned by a sanctioned state.
Pérez said Jack Lantz, the compliance officer of the bank, was the only one who objected, saying in a September 2016 memorandum to Rodriguez that “it is very reasonable that if we do not satisfactorily manage the risks, I believe the OCC response would be a consent order or worse.”
The first consent order was issued in 2018, followed by another in 2020 that Pérez said is still in place today.
In the defense’s opening, Gary Davidson, who represents Rodriguez and the other board members, said “very little of what transpired at Eastern National Bank had to do with the Venezuelan government.”
