Former U.S. Representative David Rivera of Florida was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in prison for secretly lobbying officials in Washington on behalf of the Venezuelan government during the first Trump administration.
The sentence capped a remarkable fall from grace for Mr. Rivera, a Miami Republican who forged his political career as a staunch enemy of communism. He served a single term in Congress, from 2011 to 2013.
At his federal trial in Miami this spring, witnesses testified that Mr. Rivera’s consulting firm had accepted a $50 million contract from Venezuela’s state-run oil company to influence the White House and members of Congress in 2017 and 2018, with the goal of thawing U.S. relations with the socialist government.
The jury convicted Mr. Rivera of conspiracy, counts related to money laundering and failing to register as a foreign agent as required under federal law.
Before the judge announced the sentence, Mr. Rivera, 61, a father of two young children, grew emotional as he asked for mercy. He told the judge that he has prostate cancer.
“I don’t deserve to die in prison,” he said. “It’s a death sentence.”
Judge Melissa Damian, of the Federal District Court in Miami, said the evidence overwhelmingly showed Mr. Rivera was working for the Venezuelan government.
“This is a serious offense,” Judge Damian told him. “It’s not about not filing a piece of paper.”
Before winning a seat in Congress, Mr. Rivera served in the Florida Legislature between 2002 and 2010. For years, he had been the subject of state and federal investigations into possible improper campaign dealings, cases in which he was never charged.
Then, in 2022, he was indicted in the current case, on charges that he and a longtime associate, Esther Nuhfer, had tried to lobby members of Congress and the White House on behalf of Venezuela’s socialist government, and personally had received about $20 million for their efforts.
The federal jury also convicted Ms. Nuhfer, who split the secret contract money with Mr. Rivera. In August, Judge Damian sentenced Ms. Nuhfer to five years in prison.
The trial drew national attention in part because Secretary of State Marco Rubio, an old friend of Mr. Rivera’s, testified for the prosecution. Mr. Rubio, who was not accused of any wrongdoing, told jurors that he had no idea Mr. Rivera was secretly working with the Venezuelan government when the two men met twice in 2017. Mr. Rubio was a U.S. senator at the time.
Mr. Rivera’s defense attorney, Edward R. Shohat, argued at the sentencing hearing on Friday that the crimes he was convicted of were victimless.
Addressing the judge at the hearing, Mr. Rivera insisted that he was innocent, and echoed his defense at trial that his real intent was to oust — not help — the Venezuelan strongman.
“All my actions were intended to remove Maduro,” Mr. Rivera testified. “Because of that I never thought I needed to file” the paperwork declaring himself to be a foreign agent, he said.
U.S. commandos in January captured Mr. Maduro, who is now awaiting trial in New York on drug trafficking charges. Judge Damian pushed back on Mr. Rivera’s assertions.
“As firmly as you believe that you were working on behalf of the opposition, all the evidence in this case shows otherwise,” she said.
The judge said that no one disputed that the millions that Mr. Rivera received from the contract came from the Maduro regime, and noted that the courtroom was packed with Mr. Rivera’s Cuban American friends and family members. “What would all of these people think if you had taken that $20 million from Fidel Castro?” she asked. “Nobody would accept that’s OK.”
Mr. Rivera’s legal troubles are not over. He is still facing trial in Washington, in a separate case involving similar allegations.
Mr. Rivera has already applied for a pardon from Mr. Trump, according to the Justice Department’s website.
