Key facts
- Former US congressman David Rivera was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
- Rivera was found guilty of money laundering and acting as an undeclared foreign agent.
- Rivera lobbied members of Congress on behalf of Venezuela's state-run oil company.
- Rivera and associate Esther Nuhfer received a $50 million contract for their lobbying efforts.
- Rivera served in Congress from 2011 to 2013.
A former US congressman, David Rivera, has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for money laundering and working as an undeclared foreign agent. Rivera, 61, a Republican who represented Florida in Congress from 2011 to 2013, was found guilty in May after a seven-week trial.
Prosecutors alleged that Rivera and his associate, political consultant Esther Nuhfer, engaged in a "secret political influence campaign" after receiving a $50 million contract for three months of work on behalf of Citgo, a US-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-run oil company PDVSA. The lobbying efforts, allegedly at the behest of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government in 2017 and 2018, aimed to improve US relations with Venezuela and counter sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.
Rivera's defense lawyers argued that the lobbying was for a US subsidiary and not the Venezuelan government, thus not requiring foreign agent registration. However, Judge Melissa Damian stated during sentencing, "There's no dispute this money came from the Maduro regime." Nuhfer was also found guilty in the case. As part of his sentence, Rivera must also forfeit his Florida properties.