A federal jury in Miami convicted former Republican Congressman David Rivera on Friday in connection with a secret $50 million lobbying campaign conducted on behalf of Venezuela during the first Trump administration. A 2024 indictment had charged that then-Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez recruited Rivera and his associate, political consultant Esther Nuhfer, to persuade the incoming Trump administration to ease restrictions on Venezuela's oil sector. The case proceeded to trial in the Southern District of Florida before Judge Melissa Damian, with all charges surviving to the jury.
Jurors found Rivera and Nuhfer guilty on all counts, including failing to register as a foreign agent with the Justice Department and conspiracy to commit money laundering, for their work on behalf of former President Nicolás Maduro's government. The indictment alleged the pair signed a contract structured as five payments of $5 million and one payment of $25 million, totaling $50 million, though prosecutors said only roughly $20 million was paid before the contract was terminated. At trial, prosecutors argued Rivera used the lobbying relationship to cultivate access to U.S. officials: prosecutors alleged Rivera and Nuhfer manipulated influential contacts, including then-Senator Marco Rubio and Rep. Pete Sessions, like "pawns on a chess board." Rubio, Sessions, and a top Washington lobbyist each testified that they were unaware of the consulting contract with PDV USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela's state oil company. To conceal his activities, prosecutors also alleged Rivera set up an encrypted chat group called "MIA," short for Miami, with Venezuelan media tycoon Raúl Gorrín, his primary conduit to the Maduro government. The defense countered that Rivera acted in good faith, arguing the contract was limited to commercial work, specifically luring ExxonMobil back to Venezuela, work that is generally exempt from FARA registration requirements. Defense counsel Ed Shohat told the jury Rivera was working to remove Maduro, not advance his interests, and Nuhfer's attorney David Oscar Markus challenged the sufficiency of the government's evidence.
Rivera had been out on bond prior to the verdict, but Judge Damian ordered him taken into custody immediately, finding he posed a flight risk because of his access to sizable funds, the prospect of a potentially long prison sentence, and the existence of additional federal charges in Washington, D.C., in a related foreign lobbying case. Nuhfer was released on bond pending sentencing. No sentencing date has been announced.
Defense attorney David Weinstein stated after the verdict that the defense does not agree with the jury's decision and that an appeal will be filed. Rivera's parallel exposure in the Washington, D.C., case means his legal jeopardy extends beyond the Miami docket regardless of the outcome of any appeal here.
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