Former GOP Rep. David Rivera Sentenced to 10 Years for Secret Venezuela Lobbying

Former Republican Rep. David Rivera of Florida has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for secretly acting on behalf of the Venezuelan government and laundering millions of dollars connected to a $50 million lobbying operation.

U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian handed down the sentence Friday in Miami, months after a federal jury convicted Rivera on charges including conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, violating the law itself, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conducting transactions involving criminally derived property.

Rivera, 61, represented a South Florida congressional district from 2011 to 2013. Prosecutors said he later used his political relationships and access to secretly advance the interests of the Venezuelan government in the United States without registering as a foreign agent.

According to evidence presented at trial, Rivera and political consultant Esther Nuhfer obtained a $50 million contract with a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA. Prosecutors said the contract was used as part of an effort to influence American officials during President Trump’s first administration.

Rivera and Nuhfer contacted prominent American political figures, including then-Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Pete Sessions. They also helped arrange contacts between American policymakers and high-ranking Venezuelan officials, including Nicolás Maduro and then-Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez.

Prosecutors said Rivera and Nuhfer attempted to conceal their activities through coded communications and financial transactions. Investigators uncovered an encrypted group chat in which nicknames were allegedly used for political figures and Venezuelan officials involved in the discussions.

The Justice Department also said Rivera moved approximately $1.5 million in proceeds from the contract into his Florida state congressional campaign account between March 2017 and August 2018, along with other personal uses of the money.

Rubio testified during Rivera’s seven-week trial and said he did not know about the Venezuelan contract at the time Rivera approached him. Rubio told jurors that he felt betrayed after learning about the arrangement.

Rivera’s attorneys maintained that his work was commercial rather than political and argued that he was attempting to promote political change in Venezuela rather than help Maduro’s government. Rivera has denied wrongdoing, and his legal team plans to appeal the conviction.

Nuhfer was also convicted in the case and previously received a five-year federal prison sentence. Rivera additionally faces separate federal charges in Washington connected to another alleged foreign lobbying operation.

The case represents a dramatic fall for a former congressman who built much of his political career around opposition to communist governments in Latin America. Rivera will now serve a decade in federal prison for secretly conducting work that a jury concluded advanced the interests of the Venezuelan government.