A Miami federal jury convicted former Republican congressman David Rivera on Friday for secretly lobbying on behalf of Venezuela's government, a scheme prosecutors said netted roughly $20 million and was designed to soften U.S. sanctions on the Maduro regime during the first Trump administration.
Rivera, who represented South Florida in the U.S. House, and his consultant Esther Nuhfer were found guilty on all counts, including violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering. District Judge Melissa Damian immediately ordered Rivera taken into custody, finding he posed a flight risk.
The conviction caps a years-long federal investigation into how a former Republican lawmaker allegedly traded on his political connections to benefit a hostile foreign government, without ever disclosing the arrangement to the United States. It is exactly the kind of case that vindicates the Foreign Agents Registration Act and reminds Americans why the law exists in the first place.
Prosecutors presented evidence during a five-week trial that Venezuela's state-run oil company hired Rivera's consulting firm in 2017 and 2018. The indictment, unsealed in 2024, alleged that Rivera and Nuhfer signed a contract calling for five $5 million payments and one $25 million payment, a total value of $50 million. They ultimately received about $20 million before the contract was terminated, The Hill reported.
The purpose of the deal, according to prosecutors, was straightforward: then-Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodríguez recruited Rivera and Nuhfer to persuade the Trump administration to ease restrictions on Venezuela's oil industry, end U.S. sanctions, and warm relations with the South American country.
None of it worked. Within his first six months in office, President Trump sanctioned Nicolás Maduro's government. The first Trump administration did not loosen restrictions on Venezuela during the period described in the case.
But the failure of the lobbying campaign did not make the crime any less serious. Rivera and Nuhfer were obligated under FARA, a law enacted in 1938 specifically to prevent covert foreign influence in American politics, to disclose their relationship with the Venezuelan government and detail their work. They did neither.
The trial drew national attention in part because Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a longtime friend and former roommate of Rivera, took the stand. Rubio testified during the proceedings that he was unaware of the consulting contract between Rivera and PDV USA, the U.S. affiliate of Venezuela's state oil company. Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, a Republican, and a top Washington lobbyist also testified that they had no knowledge of the arrangement.
Rubio was not accused of any wrongdoing. But the fact that Rivera apparently concealed the deal even from his closest political allies underscores the deliberate nature of the deception. U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones did not mince words after the verdict.
As the Washington Examiner reported, Quiñones said:
"They took millions from the communist regime in Venezuela to secretly influence U.S. policy, and concealed it not just from the American government, but from their own close political allies and personal friends."
Quiñones added, as reported by the Associated Press:
"These convictions expose a simple truth: the defendants sold access and influence to a hostile foreign regime for money."
Rivera's defense maintained that the contract applied only to commercial work, specifically, an effort to bring ExxonMobil back to Venezuela. Nuhfer's attorneys argued she had acted in good faith throughout the arrangement.
Prosecutors, however, pointed to private chat messages in which Nuhfer drafted FARA disclosure letters with Rivera. The existence of those drafts cut directly against the defense's claim that neither defendant believed foreign-agent registration was required. If they didn't think FARA applied, why draft the disclosure paperwork?
The jury evidently found the prosecution's case persuasive. Rivera and Nuhfer were convicted on all counts. The broader landscape of Republican internal tensions, from House feuds between members to legal controversies, makes accountability within the party's own ranks all the more important.
Judge Damian wasted no time after the verdict. She ordered Rivera taken into custody immediately. Prosecutors had argued he posed a flight risk because of the seriousness of the charges and his significant financial resources, a man who had received approximately $20 million from a foreign government, after all, has the means to disappear.
Just one day before the verdict, on Thursday, Damian had denied Rivera's request to modify the terms of his bond to travel to Miami for what he described as "personal family related reasons." The judge cited his history and the severity of the charges in rejecting the request.
Rivera was first arrested in 2022. The indictment was unsealed in 2024. He now faces additional federal charges in Washington, D.C., in a related foreign lobbying case, meaning the legal reckoning is far from over. The potential for a lengthy prison sentence looms over both defendants.
Rivera's legal troubles are not new. The former lawmaker has previously faced several state and federal investigations into improper campaign dealings, a pattern that suggests Friday's conviction is less an aberration than a culmination. With the House GOP majority already razor-thin, every Republican who disgraces the party's name makes the work harder for those trying to govern honestly.
The Foreign Agents Registration Act has existed since 1938 for a simple reason: Americans deserve to know when someone is working on behalf of a foreign power to shape U.S. policy. The law requires agents of foreign principals who engage in political activities to disclose their relationship and provide details about their work. It is not a technicality. It is a safeguard against exactly the kind of covert influence Rivera and Nuhfer were convicted of carrying out.
For years, FARA enforcement was lax. High-profile prosecutions, including cases arising from the Russia investigation, have renewed attention to the statute. This case adds another chapter. A former U.S. congressman took millions from a communist regime and secretly lobbied American officials on its behalf. That is not a gray area.
Republicans who demand accountability from the left on issues of foreign influence and government corruption, and rightly so, must hold their own to the same standard. Rivera's conviction is not an indictment of the Republican Party. It is an indictment of one man who betrayed his oath, his allies, and the public trust. The party is better off with him held to account than with his conduct swept aside. The same principle that drives conservative support for FISA reauthorization and national security tools applies here: the law must be enforced evenly, including against people who once wore the right jersey.
When a former congressman secretly takes $20 million from a hostile foreign government and lies about it, the only principled response is the one the jury delivered on Friday: guilty on all counts.