(Grammatical Readers, please note that the computer, in general correctly worried about excessive use of the passive voice, has gently suggested this: “News of the day, here in our sunny isle, is that professional hit men have filed a lawsuit in federal court by the widow and daughter of Maurice Spagnoletti, a banker gunned down on 15 June 2011.” Your choice!)
And if even a few of the allegations of the suit are true, it’s a shocker.
According to the suit, Spagnoletti was hired by Doral Bank as Chief Operating Officer in 2011; he moved to Puerto Rico from New Jersey, and once on the island, began sniffing rats.
There was the million-dollar loan backed by a hotel—all well and good, but where was the hotel?
Didn’t exist.
There was the architect who got several hundred thousand dollars for a branch that was never built. Or what about the loan for $900,000 for a condo in Isla Verde? Spagnoletti went out to see it himself—the place had been trashed by its previous owner; even the kitchen appliances had been removed. Spagnoletti figured it was worth 600,000, max.
There were other irregularities—money paid to contractors for lighting supplies and office furniture that were never installed or delivered. Oh yes, and what about the $30,000 that was transferred weekly from Doral Bank or Doral Financial for services that were not performed?
Then Spagnoletti—according to the suit—began wondering about the accounting practices: were the numbers right? He asked the Chief Financial Officer, Robert Wahlman, and never got a clear answer. He then pressed for an audit by an outsider CPA—that didn’t happen either.
Spagnoletti focused his attention on Annelise Figueroa, Executive Vice President of Facilities and Operations, and began to press for her dismissal. He locked horns with Enrique Ubarri-Baragano, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief of Compliance of Doral Financial. Ubarri-Baragano insisted that Figueroa stay, the two men had a fierce argument. At one point in the argument, Ubarri-Baragano tells Spagnoletti that he would “regret it” if Figueroa was fired.
According to the suit, Spagnoletti was having a hard time sleeping at night—who wouldn’t?
The suit says that the FBI was aware of “irregularities,” and that the bank was being investigated; the suit also claims that the FBI has documents that would corroborate the allegations, documents that the feds have refused to give up to the wife.
Spagnoletti appealed to Glen Wakeman, the CEO and president of Doral Financial, the man who had hired Spagnoletti. And Wakeman agreed that Figueroa had to go; he left it up to Spagnoletti to do the termination, though Figueroa reported to Wakeman.
It turned nasty—Spagnoletti walked into work one day and found a photo of Figueroa with a black “X” over her pasted on his door. He told Wakeman, the bank investigated, and told Spagnoletti that there was no credible threat. Wakeman, in the meantime, got increased security; Spagnoletti could neither ride in the same car nor elevator with his boss, due to “security protocols.”
Then the family began to feel that they were being trailed.
The hit came on 15 June 2011. Spagnoletti had left the office, and was driving to his home in Condado, a wealthy and safe (usually) beach community of San Juan. Apparently, he was racing, aware that he was being followed; the car behind him drew up on his left, and three shots were fired, expertly delivering him.
So expertly, in fact, that almost immediately the police suspected that nobody on the island was that good: it had to be professionals from outside.
Which was what the guy told Spagnoletti’s widow, Marisa, at the airport two days later. The man told her that he worked for Doral in the security department, he was aware of the plot to kill Spagnoletti, and that the director of the department, José Robles, had been involved.
The suit lists Doral Financial Corporation, Doral Bank Puerto Rico, Glen Wakeman, Enrique Ubarri-Baragano, José Robles, Annelise Figueroa, John Does 1-10, Jane Does 1-10 and ABC Corps. 1-10 as defendants. Doral Bank has stated that the claims are frivolous, harmful, and completely without merit.
Whether true or not, it can’t be said that the bank is doing particularly well. In November of 2012, the stock exchange considered delisting the stock, which had been selling below a buck for over thirty days. Caribbean Business reported that in March of 2013 the bank had created a “bad bank,” called Doral Recovery, to handle all the assets that had tanked. And Investigative Reporting Workshop’ Banktracker reported that in March of this year Doral had a 105 ratio of troubled assets versus reserves; the industry average is 10.9.
No one knows, at this point, how many of the allegations are true, or to what extent. What’s sure is that one man, Maurice Spagnoletti, might have had some answers.
And he ain’t talking….
