Former Rep. David Rivera (R-FL) was sentenced Friday to 10 years in federal prison for covertly lobbying for the Venezuelan government and laundering millions of dollars tied to the work.
Rivera’s Conviction Signals Zero Tolerance for Foreign Influence
U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian imposed the sentence after a federal jury convicted Rivera, 61, in May on conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and four counts involving transactions with criminally derived property.
U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones of the Southern District of Florida said the sentence shows that “foreign influence in America cannot operate in the shadows.”
“This betrayal is especially painful for a former Congressman from South Florida whose district is made up of families who fled communist oppression and came to this country seeking freedom. He knew that history. He knew what this community had endured. Yet the jury found that, for millions of dollars, he secretly used the access and relationships entrusted to him to advance the interests of the Maduro regime,” the attorney added.
Rivera served one term in the House after winning a November 2010 election, but voters rejected him in 2012. He faced a federal indictment in 2022.
According to the Department of Justice, Rivera and co‑defendant Esther Nuhfer secured a $50 million contract with a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state‑owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), and worked to advance the Maduro government’s interests without registering as foreign agents.
Trial evidence showed the pair lobbied U.S. officials, including Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Pete Sessions, and arranged meetings with policymakers and senior Venezuelan figures such as President Nicolás Maduro and Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez. They also used coded language in text messages to conceal their conduct.
Rivera funneled $1.5 million of the contract funds into his campaign account from March 2017 to August 2018, the DOJ said.
Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles of the FBI Miami Field Office said, “Today’s sentencing represents a meaningful step toward restoring public trust in the integrity of our democratic processes and also demonstrates the impact of federal partners working together and combining their investigative expertise. And no attempt to conceal unlawful conduct will remain beyond the FBI’s reach.”
