2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE SEVEN - Banking (§§ 1 — 3116) › PART III - Other Financial Institutions (§§ 551 — 1390) › Chapter 86 - Cooperative Savings and Credit Associations Act of 2002 (§§ 1361 — 1371b) › Subchapter IX - Prohibitions and Penalties (§§ 1369 — 1369h) › § 1369d - Felonies

(a) Every member of the Board of Directors, the committees, and every executive official, employee or agent of a cooperative, shall incur a felony and upon conviction, shall be punished by a penalty of incarceration for a fixed term of six (6) years, that:
(1) Misappropriates or applies money, funds or credits of a cooperative or assets existing therein;
(2) without being duly authorized to draw or issue any certificate of deposit, releases any order or letter of credit, transfers any note, bond, draft, letter of credit, makes any acceptance or makes a false entry in any book, report, or statement of the cooperative with the intention of defrauding it, or with the intention of defrauding any other natural or juridical person or any other cooperative entity, or with the intention of deceiving the Corporation, or any other executive, official or person appointed to audit, examine or investigate the affairs of the savings and credit cooperative;
(3) receives any fee, commission, gift, or thing of value from any person, firm or corporation for procuring or attempting to procure any loan, or the purchase of discount of any document, note, money order, check, or bill of exchange from any cooperative, or
(4) receives any gain for the rendering of any service customarily rendered by the cooperative to the person, if he/she meets the requirements stipulated by it.
(b) Likewise, any person shall incur a felony, and upon conviction, shall be sanctioned by imprisonment for a fixed term of six (6) years, who:
(1) Inten[d]s or allows any member of the Board, or the committees, executive official, employee, or agent of a cooperative, to incur any of the acts described in clauses (1), (2), (3) and (4) of subsection (a) of this section, or
(2) provides false information on any application, or document through which any right, obligation or interest, to wit, give false information on applications for credit, notes or any other document, with the intent to defraud the cooperative.
(c) If there were aggravating circumstances in one or more of the above acts, the fixed penalty thus established may be increased up to a maximum of ten (10) years; if there were mitigating circumstances, it could be reduced to a minimum of four (4) years. The court may impose the penalty of restitution, in addition to the established penalty of imprisonment, in any of the modalities indicated above, or both penalties, at its discretion.
(d) Any juridical person that is not a cooperative, that attempts to control, limit, influence, or otherwise illegally interfere with the powers, faculties and actions of the cooperatives organized pursuant to this chapter, shall incur a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be punished with a minimum fine of ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or suspension of its incorporation or organization certificate for a minimum term of one (1) year, or both penalties, at the discretion of the court.
History —Oct. 28, 2002, No. 255, § 9.05.