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ProfilePerson

Rodolpho R. Pagesy Roussel

Executive

PPP · EIDL
Type
Person
Role
Executive
Programs
PPP, EIDL
Updated

The profile

A San Juan business banker the indictment calls "El Banquero," who pleaded guilty in September 2024. He used his access to his bank's systems to push fraudulent PPP applications through for a ring that drew $9 million in PPP and EIDL money.

Identity and role

Rodolpho R. Pagesy Roussel, whom the indictment gives the alias "El Banquero," was one of six defendants in United States v. Pentzke-Lemus, No. 3:23-cr-00130 (D.P.R.), indicted on March 30, 2023. The indictment describes him as an employee of "Bank 1," a San Juan financial institution, responsible for processing PPP applications. The U.S. Attorney's Office's January 2026 release names Oriental Bank as one of the scheme's two victims, with the SBA.

The scheme and pandemic-relief role

According to the indictment, the ring's organizer, Manfred A. Pentzke Lemus, recruited people to file PPP applications with Bank 1 and EIDL applications with the SBA using inflated 2019 income figures on Internal Revenue Service Form 1040PR and Puerto Rico tax form 480.6. Recruits paid kickbacks of about $5,000 per loan. In the plea agreements, the government and defendants agreed that 223 fraudulent PPP loans were processed, for $5,915,290.33, and that the SBA paid out $3,105,300 in EIDL money; the two figures add up to $9,020,590.33.

Pagesy's plea agreement sets out his part. He was a business banker at Bank 1 throughout the conspiracy and "abused his high-level position" and his access to the bank's internal systems to get fraudulent PPP applications submitted, accepted and approved. Because EIDL applications went straight to the SBA, he could not influence those; instead he joined in filing EIDL applications for businesses in his own name. The indictment's EIDL table lists two $150,000 loans in his name, both on June 17, 2020, with advances of $10,000 and $1,000. He usually took his share of the kickbacks in cash, sometimes more than $10,000 at a time. The parties agreed on a loss of more than $3.5 million but less than $9 million and on $1,780,011.73 in restitution, leaving the final figure to the court.

  • Indicted: March 30, 2023, on conspiracy to commit wire fraud (Count 1), wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering (Count 21); he initially entered a plea of not guilty.
  • Pleaded guilty: September 11, 2024, to Counts 1 and 21, under a plea and forfeiture agreement, before a magistrate judge; U.S. District Judge Aida M. Delgado-Colón adopted the recommendation to accept the plea on October 3, 2024.
  • Sentencing: postponed several times. On January 29, 2026 the U.S. Attorney's Office said two of the organizer's co-defendants had been sentenced and three were awaiting sentence. Court records show the two sentenced were Jonatan Ben David Prieto Ruiz De Val and Carlos Manfredo Pentzke Chamorro, which puts Pagesy among the three.

Where they are now (2025–2026)

We found no public record of his sentencing after January 2026.

Sources

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