The federal trial of former Miami congressman David Rivera began Monday, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expected to testify about his interactions with the longtime political ally accused of secretly lobbying for Venezuela\u2019s government during the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors allege Rivera acted as a covert representative for the administration of former Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, using political connections from his time in Congress to push the White House to soften its stance toward Venezuela\u2019s socialist government.<\/p>\n
According to the indictment, Rivera convinced then\u2013Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodr\u00edguez, who now serves as the country\u2019s acting president, to award him a $50 million lobbying contract paid through state oil giant PDVSA. Authorities say the agreement was part of a broader influence campaign aimed at opening political channels in Washington.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors claim Rivera worked with Texas Republican Representative Pete Sessions and a convicted associate of Colombia\u2019s Cali drug cartel to arrange meetings with U.S. officials and executives at Exxon Mobil in an effort to promote Maduro\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case is about two things: greed and betrayal,\u201d prosecutor Roger Cruz told jurors during opening statements. \u201cThe evidence will show that for $50 million these two defendants made a pact to secretly lobby for Nicol\u00e1s Maduro and his second in command Delcy Rodr\u00edguez.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rivera, 60, has denied wrongdoing. His legal team argues that his consulting firm, Interamerican Consulting, was hired by a U.S.-based subsidiary of Venezuela\u2019s state oil company rather than PDVSA itself, meaning the work did not require registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.<\/p>\n
His attorneys say the three-month $50 million contract was focused on encouraging Exxon Mobil to return to Venezuela, which they described as a commercial initiative rather than political lobbying.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is like a murder case without a murder, a drugs case without drugs, a kidnapping case without a kidnapping,\u201d Rivera\u2019s defense attorney Ed Shohat told the jury. \u201cNothing happened. Not one single policy of the U.S. was impacted by this case.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 11-count indictment, first unsealed in 2022, charges Rivera and Miami political consultant Esther Nuhfer with money laundering and failing to register as foreign agents.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors allege Rivera coordinated communications through an encrypted chat group named \u201cMIA,\u201d short for Miami, where members used coded language to discuss their activities. According to court filings, Maduro was referred to as the \u201cbus driver,\u201d Sessions as \u201cSombrero,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez as \u201cThe Lady in Red,\u201d and millions of dollars as \u201cmelons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubio\u2019s testimony is expected to draw significant attention. It is rare for a sitting U.S. cabinet member to testify in a criminal trial, something that has not happened since a 1983 case involving former U.S. Labour Secretary Raymond Donovan.<\/p>\n
While Rubio has not been accused of wrongdoing, prosecutors say Rivera considered the senator a key ally in his efforts to influence the Trump administration\u2019s Venezuela policy.<\/p>\n
Court documents state Rivera met Rubio at the senator\u2019s Washington home in July 2017, telling him he was working with Venezuelan media tycoon Ra\u00fal Gorr\u00edn, who allegedly convinced Maduro to consider a deal involving free and fair elections.<\/p>\n
Two days later, Rivera reportedly texted Rubio ahead of the senator\u2019s meeting with President Donald Trump, urging the United States to facilitate negotiations with Venezuela.<\/p>\n
After a second meeting involving Rubio, Rivera and Gorr\u00edn, prosecutors say Rivera wrote in the encrypted chat that Maduro would need to pay him for arranging the meeting, adding that without Rubio\u2019s support there would be \u201cno turkey.\u201d<\/p>\n
The outreach ultimately collapsed when Trump imposed sanctions on Maduro later that month and labeled him a dictator as part of a \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign against the Venezuelan government.<\/p>\n
Rubio later delivered a televised message directed at Maduro that aired on Venezuelan television, warning the Venezuelan leader that his path would \u201cnot end well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The indictment also details attempts by Rivera and his associates to arrange meetings between Rodr\u00edguez and Exxon Mobil executives in hopes of resolving long-running investment disputes and encouraging the company to return to Venezuela\u2019s struggling oil sector.<\/p>\n
Although a meeting with Exxon CEO Darren Woods was pursued, company lawyers ultimately declined the request.<\/p>\n
Rivera previously served in Congress after being elected in 2010 and was earlier a senior member of Florida\u2019s state legislature. During that time he shared a residence in Tallahassee with Rubio, who later became speaker of the Florida House.<\/p>\n
The former congressman has faced multiple past investigations, including allegations involving campaign finance violations and a controversial contract with a gambling company while serving in state office. Rivera has consistently denied wrongdoing and described those investigations as politically motivated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The federal trial of former Miami congressman David Rivera began Monday, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio expected to testify about his interactions with the longtime political ally accused of secretly lobbying for Venezuela\u2019s government during the first Trump administration. Prosecutors allege Rivera acted as a covert representative for the administration of former Venezuelan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":15390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3672,16952,16956,16955,16953,16961,16957,16958,16959,16954,16778,16962,16960],"class_list":["post-15388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-amat","tag-david-rivera-trial","tag-delcy-rodriguez-lobbying-allegations","tag-foreign-agent-registration-act-case","tag-marco-rubio-testimony-venezuela-case","tag-miami-politics-venezuela-relations","tag-pdvsa-lobbying-contract-us","tag-pete-sessions-venezuela-meeting-allegations","tag-raul-gorrin-venezuela-corruption-case","tag-rivera-lobbying-venezuela-maduro","tag-swifteradio-news","tag-trump-administration-venezuela-sanctions-history","tag-us-venezuela-political-influence-trial"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swifteradio.com\/update\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}