Dec. 18 (UPI) — A former Florida state and congressional lawmaker was indicted on new charges on allegations he acted as a foreign agent for a Venezuelan businessman by attempting to influence a former senior Trump administration official, according to the U.S. government.
The U.S Justice Department announced Wednesday in a release that a grand jury in Washington, D.C., indicted former Rep. David Rivera, R-Fla., on Tuesday for allegedly trying to conceal and launder millions of dollars in furtherance of his alleged criminal conduct in an international scheme that violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, officials say.
It’s alleged that Rivera, 59 and of Miami, carried out a scheme to provide consulting and lobbying services for a little less than a year to Raul Gorrin, a Venezuelan businessman sanctioned by the U.S. government.
Rivera was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from 2002 to 2010. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011 to 2013.
Gorrin in January 2019 was put on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The indictment outlines that from roughly June 2019 to sometime around April the next year, Rivera attempted to lobby government officials — including an unnamed “senior” Trump administration official — to have Gorrin deleted from the SDN List.
However, he remains on the SDN List, The Hill reported.
Rivera, a Cuban-American, is a longtime friend and former housemate of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to be the next head of the State Department.
DOJ officials alleged that Rivera was on the receiving end of more than $5 million via Hong Kong intermediary companies and “willfully failed” to register as required by federal law under FARFA. Authorities allege that he used some of the proceeds to pay off those who aided his lobbying effort on behalf of Gorrin.
Officials also said Rivera created “fraudulent shell companies” in Delaware using names unwittingly associated with the unnamed Trump administration official and a law firm in order to give a false appearance of legitimate business entities and in order to divert funds to the select few. But neither the law firm or the administration official were in the know, according to law enforcement officials.
The former Miami-Dade representative in 2022 was arrested along with one of his political consultants for allegedly secretly working for a Venezuelan state-run oil company to pitch the prospects of an improved relationship between the United States and Venezuela. In that matter, it’s alleged Rivera received at least $50 million for the task. That case is still ongoing.
In 2012, Rivera managed to avoid charges being filed against him while a freshman lawmaker over ambiguities in the state’s campaign finance laws and the statute of limitations.