January 1, Former Lawmaker Busted Working For Venezuela’s Communist Regime

Wyatt’s Take

• A former Florida congressman betrayed the Cuban-American families he once represented by secretly taking money from Venezuela’s communist regime.
• The 10-year prison sentence shows that even ex-members of Congress cannot escape justice when they put foreign tyrants ahead of American interests.
• Working-class communities who fled communism know exactly what happens when leaders sell out to foreign influence for personal gain.

A former Republican congressman from South Florida will spend the next decade behind bars after a federal jury found he secretly worked for Venezuela’s communist government.

U.S. District Judge Melissa Damian sentenced 61-year-old David Rivera to 10 years in federal prison on Friday after convicting him of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act and money laundering charges.

Jason A. Reding Quiñones, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said the sentence demonstrates that “foreign influence in America cannot operate in the shadows.”

“For a former Congressman from South Florida, this betrayal cuts especially deep,” Quiñones said. “Rivera represented a community shaped by generations of families who fled communist oppression and came to this country seeking freedom.

He knew that history. He knew what this community had endured. Yet the jury found that, for millions of dollars, he secretly used the access and relationships entrusted to him to advance the interests of the Maduro regime.”

Rivera served one term in Congress before losing reelection in 2012. He was indicted in 2022.

The Department of Justice says the case centered on a $50 million contract Rivera obtained with a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company. The pair worked to advance the interests of then-President Nicolás Maduro without registering as foreign agents.

Trial evidence showed that Rivera and his co-defendant lobbied U.S. officials including then-Sen. Marco Rubio and arranged meetings between American policymakers and senior Venezuelan officials including Maduro himself.

Rivera also directed $1.5 million from the contract into his own campaign account.

“Today’s sentencing represents a meaningful step toward restoring public trust in the integrity of our democratic processes,” said Special Agent in Charge Brett D. Skiles of the FBI Miami Field Office. “It also demonstrates the impact of federal partners working together and combining their investigative expertise. And no attempt to conceal unlawful conduct will remain beyond the FBI’s reach.”

Wyatt Matters

Working families who built this country understand that loyalty to America comes first. When elected officials put foreign dictators ahead of the communities they swore to serve, every honest citizen pays the price.