Former Rep. David Rivera (R-FL)was found guilty by a federal jury in Miami of secretly lobbying on behalf of the former Venezuelan government and laundering millions of dollars tied to that work, in violation of the Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA). Until recently, he had been out on bond, but Judge Melissa Damian issued an order that he be taken into custody, stating that she believed he was a flight risk due to having access to a large sum of money. Rivera is looking at a lengthy prison sentence and faces additional federal charges in D.C., in connection to a foreign lobbying case in which he has been found guilty.
The trial, which lasted a total of seven weeks, offered a rare inside look at Miami as a potential crossroads for foreign influence campaigns with the end goal of reshaping U.S. policy toward countries located in Latin America. According to a report from Politico, Rivera’s case highlights the Florida city’s reputation for drawing in corruption and anti-Communist activists.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Texas Congressman Pete Sessions, and a top Washington lobbyist provided testimony during Rivera’s trial, stating that they were stunned to learn about Rivera’s consulting contract with an affiliate of Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA that is based in the U.S. Accusations against Rivera were made known to the public following the unsealing of an indictment that contained 11 counts against the former congressman.
According to Politico, prosecutors say that Rivera was recruited by then-Foreign Ministry Delcy Rodriguez, who is the current acting president of Venezuela, to use his GOP connections from his time in Congress to get the first Trump administration to drop its hard-line stance and relax sanctions on the Latin American country.
As part of their “charm offensive,” prosecutors allege that Rivera, along with a political consultant named Nuhfer, manipulated some of their more influential friends, which included both Rubio and Sessions like “pawns on a chessboard.” Their goal was to normalize relations with the new Trump administration during a time when Maduro’s government was being hit with heavy accusations of human rights violations.
“As long as the money kept coming in, they didn’t care from where,” prosecutor Roger Cruz went on to say of the defendants during closing arguments at the trial. The two individuals kept the true nature of their work secret and did not disclose their lobbying work, which is required by law, due to fears it would have brought an end to Rivera’s political career as a supposed anti-Communist hero.
In order to keep his work a secret, prosecutors say that Rivera also created an encrypted chat group called MIA, along with his main connection to Maduro’s government, Venezuelan media tycoon Raul Gorrin. Gorrin was also charged in the United States with bribing top officials in the Venezuelan government.
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According to a report from NBC News, Rubio once co-owned a house with Rivera, who served in the House of Representatives between 2011 and 2013. The secretary of state told the jury that he first met Rivera in 2017, claiming that the now-disgraced former congressman was working on a plan to convince Maduro to step down from his position as president.
A few days after that encounter, Rubio gave a speech on the Senate floor signaling that the U.S. would not retaliate against Venezuelan government insiders who were working to remove Maduro from power.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video