A former Republican congressman and longtime friend of Secretary of State Marco Rubio received a 10-year prison sentence on Friday for concealing a $50 million lobbying campaign on Venezuela\u2019s behalf during the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n
\n
David Rivera of Miami has been jailed since his conviction in May for conspiracy to commit money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent for the government of Nicol\u00e1s Maduro.<\/p>\n
Rivera, 61, appeared stone-faced as Judge Melissa Damian denounced him for betraying his life\u2019s mission. His many friends in Miami would surely judge him harshly had the millions of dollars come from Cuba\u2019s communist regime instead of its allies in Caracas, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody would accept that\u2019s ok and I don\u2019t think this is different,\u201d the judge said. \u201cThere\u2019s no dispute this money came from the Maduro regime.\u201d<\/p>\n
The case offered a rare glimpse into foreign influence campaigns aimed at shaping U.S. policy toward Latin America, highlighting Miami\u2019s reputation as a magnet for both anti-communist crusaders and corruption among its sizable exile population.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump\u2019s secretary of state, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas and a top Washington lobbyist all testified, saying Rivera had never mentioned his mammoth consulting contract with a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela\u2019s state oil company, PDVSA.<\/p>\n
Rivera was charged in 2022, during President Joe Biden\u2019s administration. Charges of illegal foreign lobbying have plunged since Trump returned to the White House. Rivera\u2019s lawyers have applied for a presidential pardon, and plan to appeal while also defending him against a related foreign lobbying case in Washington, D.C. Still pending is Damian\u2019s ruling on the government\u2019s request that Rivera forfeit $20 million in criminal proceeds.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors described how Rivera worked GOP connections for Delcy Rodr\u00edguez<\/h4>\n
Rivera was tapped by Maduro\u2019s Foreign Minister Delcy Rodr\u00edguez \u2014 now Venezuela\u2019s acting president \u2014 to get the first Trump administration to normalize relations.<\/p>\n
As part of the charm offensive, Rivera and a co-defendant, political consultant Esther Nuhfer, sought to manipulate influential friends, including Rubio and Sessions. But they didn\u2019t disclose the lobbying as required, fearing it would ruin Rivera\u2019s reputation as an anti-communist stalwart, prosecutors argued at trial. Nuhfer received a five-year sentence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States and the public were the true victims of this fraud,\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Cruz said. \u201cHe used his position of trust \u2014 and betrayed it consistently and repeatedly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivera denied being a two-faced grifter. In an emotional 20-minute address, he traced his life\u2019s journey from a childhood without a father in an immigrant Miami neighborhood to the halls of Congress \u2014 always \u201cfighting the good cause,\u201d he said. Holding back tears, he begged for leniency, telling the judge that it was tantamount to a \u201cdeath sentence\u201d due to his age and lingering effects from a battle with prostate cancer.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said betrayal featured coded figures \u2014 \u2018Sombrero\u2019 and \u2018Miss Clairol\u2019<\/h4>\n
Trial evidence showed how Rivera set up an encrypted chat group called MIA \u2014 for Miami \u2014 with his main conduit to the Maduro government: Venezuelan media tycoon Ra\u00fal Gorr\u00edn, who was subsequently charged in the U.S. with bribing top Venezuelan officials.<\/p>\n
Group members used playful code words: Maduro was the \u201cbus driver,\u201d Sessions \u201cSombrero,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez \u201cThe Lady in Red,\u201d and their windfall payments \u201cLa Luz,\u201d Spanish for \u201cThe Light,\u201d according to copies of text messages presented to the jury. Rubio was known as \u201cMiss Clairol,\u201d because rubio means blond in Spanish.<\/p>\n
Rivera\u2019s attorneys argued again Friday that the former congressman believed he was under no disclosure requirement. They said the three-month, $50 million contract with Rivera\u2019s one-man consulting firm was focused on luring oil giant ExxonMobil back to Venezuela \u2014 commercial work that is generally exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act.<\/p>\n
\u201cDavid Rivera does not deserve to die in prison because he failed to file a FARA registration,\u201d defense attorney Ed Shohat said.<\/p>\n
The judge strenuously disagreed. \u201cThis is a serious offense. It\u2019s not about not filing a piece of paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wholly distinct from that consulting work, defense attorneys said, were Rivera\u2019s meetings with Rubio and Sessions, which were focused on ushering in less hostile leadership in Venezuela, not unlike the Rodr\u00edguez government that took power after the U.S. ouster of Maduro in January.<\/p>\n
Where did the money go? A luxury yacht, among other things<\/h4>\n
Prosecutors said Rivera used the contract with the Venezuelan oil giant\u2019s affiliate, New York-based PDV USA, as cover for illegal lobbying, and tried to hide it by backdating documents and creating sham agreements, like one to justify a $3.75 million wire transfer to a South Florida company maintaining Gorr\u00edn\u2019s luxury yacht.<\/p>\n
While setting up meetings for Rodr\u00edguez in New York, Caracas, Washington and Dallas, Rivera roped in Sessions, who later tried to broker a meeting for Rodr\u00edguez with the ExxonMobil executive who took over as CEO when Rex Tillerson became Trump\u2019s first-term secretary of state.<\/p>\n
The outreach quickly unraveled, however. Within six months of taking office, Trump sanctioned Maduro and labeled him a \u201cdictator,\u201d launching a \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign to unseat the president.<\/p>\n
Rubio\u2019s former housemate faced scandal before, but Cuban Americans support him<\/h4>\n
Before serving in Congress from 2011-2013, Rivera was a high-ranking Florida legislator and shared a Tallahassee home with Rubio, who eventually became the Florida House speaker.<\/p>\n
Rivera faced earlier controversy, including allegations that he secretly funded a Democratic spoiler candidate in a 2012 congressional race \u2014 a case federal prosecutors eventually dropped after a sizable fine was thrown out on appeal. Rivera was also investigated \u2014 but never charged \u2014 for alleged campaign finance violations and a $1 million contract with a gambling company while serving in the Florida Legislature.<\/p>\n
Despite all that, Rivera continues to have support among Miami\u2019s Cuban American establishment and in circles of power beyond.<\/p>\n
Friends of the former congressman, including the former president of Florida International University and Miami-Dade County\u2019s supervisor of elections, packed the courtroom to show their support. Sessions also sent a letter seeking leniency, referring to his former congressional colleague as a devoted defender of democracy.<\/p>\n
Jason Reding Qui\u00f1ones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, is also a Cuban American and said he can\u2019t explain why some in Miami still stand by Rivera.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe sold his anti-communism to communists to fill his greed,\u201d said Reding Qui\u00f1ones in a press conference following the sentencing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#sold #anticommunism #communists #Rep #David #Rivera #years #prison<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A former Republican congressma… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8990,8991,1671,7652,8989,5197,2827,299,8992,1191,5177,84],"class_list":["post-5899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-anticommunism","tag-communists","tag-david","tag-lobbying","tag-nicolas-maduro","tag-prison","tag-rep","tag-republican-party","tag-rivera","tag-sold","tag-venezuela","tag-years"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n