Former Florida Congressman David Rivera sentenced to 10 years in prison in Venezuela lobbying case

Former U.S. Rep. David Rivera was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal prison for his role in a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on behalf of the Venezuelan government under the first Trump administration.

Rivera, former Florida congressman and longtime friend of the U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubiowas sentenced in federal court in downtown Miami after a jury found him guilty in May on all counts following a seven-week trial.

Rivera had remained in federal custody without bail since the jury returned the guilty verdict on May 1. His sentencing was initially scheduled for July 20 before being postponed to October 2.

Rivera faced a statutory maximum sentence of up to 60 years in federal prison and a potential $20 million asset forfeiture judgment.

Federal officials call Rivera’s actions a betrayal of South Florida

Federal officials sharply criticized Rivera after the conviction, describing the case as a betrayal of the South Florida community he once represented.

“He betrayed the South Florida community he once represented, a community made up in part of people who fled a communist regime,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quiñones.

Reding Quiñones rejected the notion that Rivera’s conduct constituted a technical violation.

“This is not a simple document violation or a simple error,” he said. “He sold his reputation to the communists to satisfy his greed.”

“This betrayal hurts this South Florida community,” Reding Quiñones said. “For many families here, communism is not an economic idea or a chapter in a book, it means murder, torture, political prisoners, families divided and people forced to leave their countries to find political freedom.”

Brett Skiles of the FBI’s Miami Field Office also addressed the case, saying, “Acting illegally and covertly on behalf of a foreign government has consequences. »

Charles Miller of the IRS Criminal Investigation Florida field office said Rivera’s former position did not protect him from prosecution.

“A person’s title or political connections do not shield them from liability,” Miller said.

Jurors convicted Rivera on all federal charges, including failure to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Political consultant Esther Nuhferwho was tried alongside Rivera, was also found guilty on all counts.

Prosecutors said Rivera and Nuhfer worked secretly on behalf of Nicolas Maduro’s government from 2017 to 2018 as part of a multimillion-dollar contract with Rivera’s company.

After Rivera’s conviction, the jury also determined that properties he owned in Doral and the Florida Keys would be forfeited to the government.

Prosecutors said Rivera worked secretly to influence U.S. policy toward Venezuela

Rivera was charged in an 11-count indictment unsealed in 2022. Prosecutors alleged that then-Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez recruited Rivera to use Republican connections from his time in Congress to persuade the Trump administration to soften its stance on Venezuela and ease sanctions.

Prosecutors said Rivera and Nuhfer sought to influence high-profile political figures, including Rubio and Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, without disclosing that Rivera had a consulting contract with a U.S.-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s national oil company, PDVSA.

“As long as the money kept coming, they didn’t care where,” prosecutor Roger Cruz told jurors during closing arguments.

Prosecutors argued that Rivera and Nuhfer kept the deal secret because its disclosure could have harmed Rivera’s political reputation as an anticommunist.

Evidence presented at trial included messages from an encrypted chat group called “MIA,” which prosecutors said Rivera established with Venezuelan media mogul Raúl Gorrínits main intermediary towards the Maduro government.

Members used code words when discussing their activities, according to messages shown to jurors. Maduro was called the “Bus Driver,” Sessions was “Sombrero,” Rodríguez was “The Lady in Red,” and millions of dollars were called “melons.”

“It was all about La Luz,” Cruz said during closing arguments, referring to the Spanish word for “light,” which prosecutors said Rivera and others used to discuss payments from Caracas.

Prosecutors also accused Rivera and his associates of trying to cover up their work once it came under intense scrutiny, including backdating documents and entering into bogus deals. Prosecutors say a deal was used to justify a $3.75 million wire transfer to a South Florida company that maintained Gorrín’s luxury yacht.

The lobbying effort included organizing meetings for Rodríguez in New York, Caracas, Washington and Dallas. Sessions then tried to arrange a meeting between Rodríguez and the CEO of ExxonMobil and agreed to deliver a letter from Maduro to President Donald Trump after a secret meeting in Caracas.

Rivera’s defense argued he was trying to oust Maduro

Rivera’s lawyers argued during the trial that he acted in good faith and believed his work did not need to be disclosed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The defense argued that the three-month contract worth $50 million with Rivera’s consulting firm involved efforts to bring ExxonMobil back to Venezuela and constituted commercial work generally exempt from foreign agent registration requirements.

Rivera’s lawyers also argued that his meetings with Rubio and Sessions took place after the consultation agreement ended and were aimed at replacing Maduro with Venezuelan leaders more friendly to the United States.

“He was working every means possible to get Nicolás Maduro out,” defense attorney Ed Shohat said during closing arguments. “There was not a word in the discussions about the normalization of relations.”

The trial presented Rubio’s testimonySessions and a prominent Washington lobbyist, all of whom said they only later learned of Rivera’s consulting contract with subsidiary PDVSA.

Rivera served one term in Congress after being elected in 2010 and previously held a leadership position in the Florida Legislature. He and Rubio shared a home in Tallahassee when they both served in state government and Rubio later became speaker of the Florida House.