Rubio testified he was unaware former housemate worked as lobbyist

A federal judge in Florida sentenced former US congressman David Rivera on Friday to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of money laundering and acting as an undeclared foreign agent for Venezuela’s government. The 61-year-old Republican, who served in Congress from 2011 to 2013, was found guilty in May following a seven-week trial in which prosecutors described the work as a “secret political influence campaign” for the Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA.

The case centers on lobbying work that occurred in 2017 and 2018 during a period of tense US-Venezuela relations under President Donald Trump’s first administration, when his government had imposed sanctions on the South American country. According to prosecutors, Rivera’s outreach targeted then-Senator Marco Rubio — now Secretary of State and a former housemate of Rivera’s — as well as Kellyanne Conway, who was then a senior White House adviser.

Federal prosecutors said Rivera and Nuhfer received a $50 million contract for three months of work on behalf of a US-based subsidiary of PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company also known as Citgo. Prosecutors alleged that the lobbying was carried out “at the behest of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government.”

In remarks at sentencing on Friday, Judge Melissa Damian rejected the defence’s central argument. “There’s no dispute this money came from the Maduro regime,” Damian said. Defence lawyers had argued that the lobbying work was for a US subsidiary of the oil company and not the Venezuelan government, and that Rivera and Nuhfer therefore did not need to register as foreign agents.

Rubio testified during the trial that he was a close friend of Rivera’s but was unaware his former housemate was working as a lobbyist. Rubio was not implicated in the wrongdoing. Texas congressman Pete Sessions also testified that he had no knowledge of Rivera’s activities. Rubio, who was then a senator, was among the figures Rivera and Nuhfer allegedly approached, along with Conway.

Rivera’s co-defendant, political consultant Esther Nuhfer, was tried alongside him and was also found guilty. As part of his sentence, Rivera must also forfeit his Florida properties. The pair’s outreach came during a period when the Trump administration had imposed sanctions on Venezuela, and US-Venezuelan relations were particularly tense.