Former Republican U.S. Representative David Rivera is sentenced to 10 years in prison for orchestrating an unregistered $50 million lobbying campaign on behalf of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government. Rivera used his political connections to target high-profile Republicans, including Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Pete Sessions, in an effort to ease U.S. sanctions. Rivera plans to appeal and has applied for a presidential pardon.
Sentencing and appeal
- ▪U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian sentenced David Rivera on October 2, 2026, after jurors found him guilty in May 2026 of failing to register as a foreign agent and money laundering conspiracy
- ▪Attorneys for David Rivera announced plans to appeal his 10-year prison sentence and confirmed that Rivera applied for a presidential pardon in June 2026
- ▪Former Republican U.S. Representative David Rivera was sentenced on October 2, 2026, to 10 years in prison for his role in a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on behalf of Venezuela
Details of the lobbying scheme
- ▪David Rivera and co-defendant Esther Nuhfer used a South Florida company to route a $3.75 million wire transfer to maintain a luxury yacht owned by Venezuelan media tycoon Raúl Gorrín
- ▪David Rivera, Esther Nuhfer, and Raúl Gorrín used an encrypted chat group with code names like 'Miss Clairol' for Marco Rubio, 'Sombrero' for Pete Sessions, and 'bus driver' for Nicolás Maduro
- ▪David Rivera was hired by then-Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez to influence the Trump administration to abandon sanctions on Venezuela by manipulating U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Pete Sessions
- ▪David Rivera signed a three-month, $50 million consulting contract with PDV USA, a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA, to lobby on behalf of Nicolás Maduro's government
Support for Rivera's leniency
- ▪Supporters of David Rivera, including the former president of Florida International University and Miami-Dade County's supervisor of elections, packed the Miami courtroom to show their support during his sentencing
- ▪Representative Pete Sessions wrote a letter seeking leniency for David Rivera, praising his decades of public service focused on defending liberty and democracy
Debatable claims
- ▪David Rivera's lobbying for Venezuelan interests was a betrayal of his anti-communist principles
- ▪President Trump should pardon former Representative David Rivera
- ▪David Rivera's ten-year prison sentence is a proportionate punishment for unregistered foreign lobbying
- ▪FARA registration requirements unfairly criminalize standard commercial consulting
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