Bancrédito Holding Files Lawsuit Over Legal Advice That Led to Multi-Million-Dollar Fine

MIAMI, Sept. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Bancrédito Holding Corporation (BHC), sole shareholder of Bancrédito International Bank & Trust Corporation, has filed a derivative lawsuit against three international law firms — McConnell Valdés LLC, Holland & Knight LLP, and McDermott Will & Schulte LLP — reports MP Publishing. The legal action demands a jury trial and compensation for legal representation that resulted in a $15 million fine.

This new lawsuit follows the recent dismissal of criminal charges against Julio Herrera Velutini, founder of Bancrédito. "Those who, instead of protecting the interests of the bank and its shareholders, acted negligently and caused reputational and financial harm, must be held accountable before the law, as Bancrédito has always done," said Luis Zapata, CEO of BHC. The narrative that was constructed lacked foundation. Now it is time to establish the responsibility of those who compromised not only the name and prestige of the institution, but also its assets and those of the beneficiaries of the trust to which it belongs.

The complaint, filed in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Miami-Dade County, alleges that the firms committed egregious legal malpractice during negotiations with the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). According to paragraph 33 of the lawsuit, the firms' advice led the Bank to abandon valid defenses and agree to a Consent Order, admitting to numerous facts known to Bank's Counsel to be false and erroneous given their involvement or access to the advice previously given.

The filing also points out in paragraph 17 that in 2020, McConnell Valdés and Holland & Knight sent a joint opinion letter to Puerto Rico regulators affirming that the bank's anti–money laundering (AML) and Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) compliance programs were adequate. They even stated that certain reports were not required. However, when FinCEN opened its investigation, those same firms allegedly disregarded their earlier positions, failed to present available arguments, and advised the bank to accept facts they knew to be inaccurate.

"Any reasonable attorney would not have advised the bank to accept a Consent Order that also claims the bank's compliance programs deteriorated over time (paragraphs 35, 48), when, as previously noted, the attorneys themselves had concluded in a review that the programs were sufficient and had even improved (paragraph 36)," the lawsuit states.

In 2023, BHC sued Driven Administrative Services, the court-appointed receiver that acted as the Bank's board of directors during liquidation. That lawsuit —currently pending for appeal in Puerto Rico, claims Driven breached its fiduciary duty by entering into the Consent Order with FinCEN, based on the negligent advice of Bank's counsel. The complaint also argues that once the bank repaid all depositors in early 2023, the remaining assets should have reverted to the Bank and its shareholder (BHC). Instead, Driven allegedly retained or sold works of art valued at over $22 million, despite no outstanding obligations to depositors.

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SOURCE MP Publishing