WASHINGTON — A former Miami congressman who signed a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s socialist authorities was arrested Monday in reference to an ongoing federal felony investigation, regulation enforcement officers advised The Associated Press.
David Rivera, a Republican who served from 2011 to 2013, was arrested at Atlanta’s airport, stated Marlene Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami. She stated Rivera was indicted by a Miami grand jury final month, however that doc stays sealed and she or he couldn’t focus on the fees.
Pressure has been constructing on Rivera for greater than two years after it emerged that he obtained the large contract from a U.S. affiliate of Venezuela’s state-owned oil firm as President Nicolas Maduro was making an attempt to curry favor with the White House in the early days of the Trump administration.
Rivera’s Interamerican Consulting was sued in 2020 by PDV USA — a Delaware-based affiliate of Venezuelan-owned Citgo — alleging the previous congressman carried out no work as half of the contract he signed in 2017 for 3 months of “strategic consulting” meant to construct bridges with key U.S. stakeholders.
Rivera, 57, has maintained his innocence and has countersued PDV USA alleging breach of contract and unjust enrichment for its failure to pay $30 million he says he’s nonetheless owed.
The U.S. Marshals Service stated Rivera bailed out of jail Monday afternoon after making an preliminary look in Atlanta federal court docket. His legal professional, Jeffrey Feldman, declined to remark, telling The AP in a textual content message that he had “not seen the indictment.”
Although Rivera’s contract was with a U.S. entity, any work he carried out on behalf of Maduro’s authorities or Venezuelan enterprise pursuits would have required him to register as a international lobbyist, which he didn’t.
Around the time Rivera was employed, Maduro’s authorities was searching for to court docket Donald Trump’s administration, donating $500,000 to his inaugural committee by way of Citgo and initially avoiding outright criticism of the brand new U.S. president who had a penchant for befriending different strongmen, together with Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un.
The attraction offensive in the end failed, as Trump in 2019 acknowledged opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legit chief and imposed stiff oil sanctions on the OPEC nation in a bid to unseat Maduro.
Records that emerged as half of the continuing lawsuit present that Rivera’s consulting work was carefully coordinated with Raul Gorrin — a Venezuelan insider and media tycoon who has been sanctioned and indicted in the U.S. on cash laundering prices.
Correspondence launched as half of the lawsuit reveals Rivera and Gorrin discussing shopping for “concert tickets” — a doable code phrase for bribes — to unnamed officers and trying to coordinate a gathering between Venezuela’s international minister and executives from the U.S. oil firm Exxon.
As half of that effort, additionally they roped in Republican Rep. Pete Sessions, whose former Dallas district was residence to Exxon and who secretly traveled to Venezuela in 2018 to satisfy with Maduro.
Some of the $15 million in funds that Rivera obtained as half of the contract had been transferred to 2 of his associates in addition to a Miami firm, Interglobal Yacht Management, which PDV USA alleges was used to pay for upkeep on one of Gorrin’s superyachts.
To justify the big funds, PDV USA allegedly created “phony contracts” backdated to March 20, 2017 — the day earlier than the consulting settlement took impact.
Rivera’s consulting contract had all of the hallmarks of a sham, based on PDV USA, which since 2019 has been run by administrators appointed by the U.S.-backed opposition.
According to the lawsuit, Rivera’s Interamerican made simply $9,500 in the 12 months earlier than being picked, out of the blue, by Maduro loyalists with none due diligence. Rivera by no means met in particular person with anybody from Citgo or PDV USA whereas supposedly engaged on its behalf. Instead, he filed two “deficient and incoherent” progress studies of the seven he was required to submit.
“The written record is bereft of any evidence that Interamerican performed any of the contracted services,” PDV USA argues in the brand new filings. “There is not a single email, a single PowerPoint presentation, a single outline, a single memorandum, a single calendar entry, or anything else suggesting that Interamerican ever performed any of the services.”
Before being elected to Congress, Rivera was a high-ranking Florida legislator, serving from 2003 to 2010 in the House. During that point he shared a Tallahassee residence with present U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, who ultimately grew to become Florida House speaker.
Rivera has been embroiled in a number of election-related controversies since then, together with orchestrating the stealth funding of an unknown Democratic candidate to tackle his principal rival in a South Florida congressional race and a state investigation into whether or not he hid a $1 million contract with a playing firm. That probe additionally concerned doable misuse of marketing campaign funds to pay for state House actions already reimbursed by the state.