David Rivera sentenced to 10 years in Venezuela lobbying case
Former Florida Rep. David Rivera received a 10-year federal sentence after a jury convicted him of undisclosed lobbying tied to Venezuela.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
Former Florida Republican Rep. David Rivera was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Oct. 2 in Miami after a jury convicted him of offenses tied to a secret $50 million lobbying campaign for Venezuela’s government. The David Rivera prison sentence followed his May conviction for failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiring to commit money laundering, according to the Associated Press and CBS Miami.
Rivera, 61, has been held in federal custody since the May verdict. The case centered on work conducted during the first Trump administration and a three-month, $50 million contract involving Rivera’s consulting firm and a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, the AP reported.
Why was David Rivera sentenced to prison?
Prosecutors said Rivera and political consultant Esther Nuhfer secretly worked on behalf of the government of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro while trying to influence U.S. policy. They said the lobbying was not disclosed as required and that the consulting agreement was used to conceal the effort, according to the AP and CBS Miami.
A jury found Rivera guilty on all counts after a seven-week trial, CBS Miami reported. Nuhfer, tried alongside Rivera, was also convicted and received a five-year prison sentence, according to the AP.
At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian rejected the portrayal of the case as a technical filing failure. She said there was no dispute that the money came from the Maduro government, according to the AP.
U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said after the sentencing that Rivera had “sold his reputation to communists to fill his greed,” CBS Miami reported. That statement was the prosecutor’s characterization of the case; it was not a finding quoted from the court.
What was Rivera’s defense in the foreign-lobbying case?
Rivera’s lawyers maintained that he believed the $50 million agreement was commercial work focused on trying to bring ExxonMobil back to Venezuela. They argued that commercial activity is generally exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA, the federal disclosure law at issue in the case, the AP reported.
The defense also argued that Rivera’s meetings with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, had a purpose separate from the consulting agreement. The court imposed the sentence after rejecting the defense’s characterization of the matter as only a paperwork violation, according to the AP.
Rivera’s attorneys plan to appeal and sought a presidential pardon in June, the AP reported. He also faces a related foreign-lobbying case in Washington, and a ruling remained pending on the government’s request to forfeit $20 million in alleged criminal proceeds.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.