Former congressman David Rivera found guilty of secretly lobbying for Maduro regime in exchange for $50 million

David Rivera, who held a seat in the federal House of Representatives between 2011 and 2013 for the Republican Party, was found guilty by a Miami federal jury of six felonies linked to a covert lobbying operation that benefited the regime of Nicolás Maduro between 2017 and 2018.

The charges on which he was convicted include conspiracy, money laundering, and operating as a foreign agent without registering as such. His partner in the operation, political consultant Esther Nuhfer, 52, was also found guilty, in her case on four counts. Both had their motions for acquittal rejected. Rivera, 60, ended up handcuffed in the courtroom itself when Judge Melissa Damian, addressing the prosecutor's flight risk request, ordered his immediate arrest.

The sentence will be handed down on July 20, and the prosecution expects the penalty to be high. The former congressman's lawyers have already announced that they will appeal.

A scheme to favor PDVSA

The scheme, as exposed by the prosecution during the five-week trial, worked as follows: Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), the Venezuelan state-owned oil company, hired for $50 million a firm linked to Rivera to move its influence among legislators in Washington and the White House itself to build bridges between Chavismo and the U.S. administration at the time. The operation was never completed, and the contract was terminated halfway through, after the payment of close to $20 million, which was divided between Rivera, Nuhfer, and two other people who were not charged in the case.

U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said the case revealed a straightforward transaction between U.S. citizens and a regime hostile to the U.S.

“These convictions expose a simple truth: The defendants sold access and influence to a hostile foreign regime for money,” he said after the ruling was announced, reaffirming the symbolic weight of the verdict in a state tremendously marked by Cuban and Venezuelan exile: “In South Florida, where so many families fled communist oppression, that kind of betrayal carries real weight.”

The defense sought to flip the narrative. Defense lawyers said Rivera was not helping Maduro, captured by the US last January, but conspiring to get him out, and that the contract did not require registration as a foreign agent because the signing had been with PDV USA, a US subsidiary, and not with the Venezuelan parent company. The jury dismissed both arguments.

The trial gained national attention after prosecutors deposed current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was Rivera's personal friend and former housemate during the years when both were state legislators in Tallahassee. Rubio, who is not under any suspicion in the case, was a federal senator for Florida during the period under investigation and said under oath that he was unaware of the existence of the contract. He acknowledged having met twice with Rivera at that time.