Former GOP Rep. David Rivera sentenced to 10 years for secret Venezuela
lobbying
[October 03, 2026]
By JOSHUA GOODMAN
MIAMI (AP) — A former Miami congressman and longtime friend of U.S.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was sentenced Friday to 10 years in
prison in connection with a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on
Venezuela’s behalf during the first Trump administration.
Republican David Rivera has been jailed since jurors found him guilty in
May on all counts, including failing to register as a foreign agent and
conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of his work for former
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ’s government.
Rivera, 61, appeared stone-faced as Judge Melissa Damian denounced him
for betraying his life’s mission, saying he would surely have been
judged harshly his many friends had the millions of dollars come from
the Cuban regime instead of its allies in Caracas.
“Nobody would accept that’s ok and I don’t think this is different,” the
judge said. “There’s no dispute this money came from the Maduro regime.”
The seven-week trial offered a rare glimpse into Miami’s role as a
crossroads for foreign influence campaigns aimed at shaping U.S. policy
toward Latin America, highlighting the city’s reputation as a magnet for
both anti-communist crusaders and corruption among its sizable exile
population.
It included testimony from President Donald Trump’s secretary of state,
Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas and a top Washington lobbyist — all of whom
testified they felt betrayed when learning of Rivera’s mammoth
consulting contract with a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela’s state oil
company, PDVSA.
Attorneys for Rivera plan to appeal and in June applied for a
presidential pardon. Rivera faces additional federal charges in
Washington, D.C., in a related foreign lobbying case.
Prosecutors said betrayal featured coded figures — ‘Sombrero’ and
‘Miss Clairol’
In an indictment unsealed in 2022, prosecutors alleged that Rivera was
tapped by then Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez — now Venezuela’s acting
president — to work Republican connections to get the first Trump
administration to abandon its hard line and crippling sanctions on
Venezuela.
As part of the charm offensive, Rivera and a co-defendant, political
consultant Esther Nuhfer, sought to manipulate influential friends,
including Rubio and Sessions. Their goal was to normalize relations with
the new Trump administration even as the Maduro government faced
sanctions over serious accusations of human rights violations.
But Rivera and Nuhfer didn’t disclose their lobbying work as required,
for fear it would have ended Rivera’s political career as an
anti-communist stalwart, prosecutors argued at trial.
“The United States and the public were the true victims of this fraud,”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Cruz said in urging a stiff sentence. “He
used his position of trust — and betrayed it consistently and
repeatedly.”
To hide his work, prosecutors allege, Rivera also set up an encrypted
chat group called MIA — for Miami — with his main conduit to the Maduro
government: Venezuelan media tycoon Raúl Gorrín, who was subsequently
charged in the U.S. with bribing top Venezuelan officials.
Members of the group used playful code words to discuss their
activities: Maduro was the “bus driver,” Sessions “Sombrero,” Rodríguez
“The Lady in Red,” and their windfall payments “La Luz,” Spanish for
“The Light,” according to copies of text messages presented to the jury.
Rubio was known as “Miss Clairol,” because rubio means blond in Spanish.
Defense said only missing paperwork made the $50 million contract
illegal
At Friday’s sentencing, attorneys for Rivera repeated their trial
argument that the former congressman believed he was under no
requirement to disclose the work. The three-month, $50 million contract
with Rivera’s one-man consulting firm, they said, was focused on luring
oil giant ExxonMobil back to Venezuela — commercial work that is
generally exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
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Former U.S. Rep. David Rivera speaks with media outside a federal
court in Miami, Dec. 20, 2022. (AP Photo/Joshua Goodman, File)
“David Rivera does not deserve to die in prison because he failed to
file a FARA registration,” defense attorney Ed Shohat said at
Friday’s hearing. “If he had filed that paper, that form, everything
he did, including the $50 million contract, which totally distorted
this case, is perfectly legal.”
Wholly distinct from that consulting work, they say, were Rivera’s
meetings with Rubio and Sessions, which were focused on ushering in
leadership in Venezuela that would be less hostile to the U.S. – not
supporting Maduro in normalizing relations with the U.S.
“There’s not one word in any chat, not one document, not one thing
he did to help Nicolás Maduro,” said Shohat.
Prosecutors said Rivera used the contract with the affiliate, New
York-based PDV USA, as cover for illegal lobbying.
“This is a classic money laundering case,” the judge said Friday in
rejecting Rivera’s motion to lower the federal guidelines range.
Where did the money go? A luxury yacht, among other things
The partners tried to hide the work — backdating documents and
coming up with sham agreements, like one to justify a wire transfer
of $3.75 million to a South Florida company that maintained Gorrín’s
luxury yacht, prosecutors said.
The political activity included setting up meetings for Rodríguez in
New York, Caracas, Washington and Dallas. As part of the effort,
Rivera roped in Sessions, who later tried to broker a meeting for
Rodríguez with the ExxonMobil executive who took over as CEO when
Rex Tillerson became Trump’s first-term secretary of state. After a
secret meeting in Caracas with Maduro, Sessions also agreed to
deliver a letter from the Venezuelan president to Trump.
The outreach quickly unraveled, however. Within six months of taking
office, Trump sanctioned Maduro and labeled him a “dictator,”
launching a “maximum pressure” campaign to unseat the president.
And now, nearly a decade later, Rodríguez has emerged as the second
Trump administration’s trusted partner after the U.S. military’s
ousting of Maduro.
Rubio's former housemate faced scandal before, but Cuban
Americans support him
Before being elected to Congress in 2010, Rivera was a high-ranking
Florida legislator and shared a Tallahassee home with Rubio, who
eventually became the Florida House speaker.
Rivera faced earlier controversy, including allegations that he
secretly funded a Democratic spoiler candidate in a 2012
congressional race. Last year, federal prosecutors dropped that case
after an appeals court threw out a sizable fine imposed by a lower
court. Rivera was also investigated — but never charged — for
alleged campaign finance violations and a $1 million contract with a
gambling company while serving in the Florida Legislature.
Despite all that, Rivera remains popular among Miami’s Cuban
American establishment.
Friends of the former congressman, including the former president of
Florida International University and Miami-Dade County’s supervisor
of elections, packed the courtroom to show their support.
Sessions, in a letter seeking leniency that was read into the record
by his chief of staff, said his former congressional colleague
devoted decades to public service, much of it focused on defending
liberty and democracy.
“I don’t think it’s productive for society by sending David away for
a long, long time,” testified Liliana Ros, a longtime Miami GOP
committee member.
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