DAVID RIVERA

A newly unsealed grand jury indictment alleges that former Rep. David Rivera, a well-connected Florida Republican, illegally acted on Venezuela's behalf.

Former Florida congressman David Rivera and an associate were charged with conspiring to commit money laundering and with failing to register lobbying work on behalf of Venezuela.

David Rivera, a Republican who served from 2011 to 2013, was arrested at Atlanta’s airport, said Marlene Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami. To justify the large payments, PDV USA allegedly created “phony contracts” backdated to March 20, 2017 — the day before the consulting agreement took effect. Rivera's consulting contract had all the hallmarks of a sham, according to PDV USA, which since 2019 has been run by directors appointed by the U.S.-backed opposition. Rivera never met in person with anyone from Citgo or PDV USA while supposedly working on its behalf. “The written record is bereft of any evidence that Interamerican performed any of the contracted services,” PDV USA argues in the new filings.

WASHINGTON — (AP) — A former Miami congressman who signed a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela's socialist government has been arrested in connection to an ongoing federal criminal investigation, law enforcement officials said. David Rivera, a Republican who served from 2011 to 2013, was arrested Monday at Atlanta’s airport, said Marlene Rodriguez, spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami. She said Rivera was indicted by a Miami grand jury last month, but that document remains sealed and she could not discuss the charges. Rivera and Gorrin also discussed the changing price of concert tickets that attorneys for PDV USA stated were coded references to a bribe. Before being elected to Congress, Rivera was a high-ranking Florida legislator, serving from 2003 to 2010 in the House.

A former Miami congressman who signed a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s socialist government was arrested Monday on charges of money laundering and representing a foreign government without registering.

A former Miami congressman who signed a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s socialist government was arrested Monday on charges of money laundering and representing a foreign government without registering. David Rivera, a Republican who served from 2011 to 2013, was arrested at Atlanta’s airport, said Marlene Rodriguez, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami. The eight-count indictment alleges he was part of a conspiracy to lobby on behalf of Venezuela to improve U.S.-Venezuela relations, resolve an oil company legal dispute and end U.S. economic sanctions against the South American nation — without registering as a foreign agent.

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Rivera's Interamerican Consulting was sued in 2020 by PDV USA — a Delaware-based affiliate of Venezuelan-owned Citgo. Rivera never provided any services to Citgo and, it appears, never intended to do so,” according to the filing by PDV USA. PDV USA alleges instead it was used to pay for maintenance on one of Gorrin's superyachts. But the new anti-Maduro management claims PDV USA never gave Rivera permission to outsource the work, as was expressly required by the consulting agreement. The consulting contract had all the hallmarks of a sham, according to PDV USA.

New filings in a civil suit allege that a former Miami congressman who signed a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela’s socialist government not only did no apparent work, but also channeled a large chunk of the money to a yacht company on behalf of a fugitive billionaire.

A former Miami congressman who signed a $50 million consulting contract with Venezuela's socialist government not only did no apparent work, but also channeled a large chunk of the money to a yacht company on behalf of a fugitive billionaire, according to new allegations in a civil suit. The accusations against former Congressman David Rivera come in a new filing Friday in New York federal court by opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who now control the U.S.-based affiliates of the South American nation's state oil company. Rivera’s Interamerican Consulting was sued in 2020 by PDV USA — a Delaware-based affiliate of Venezuelan-owned Citgo.

DEBARY, Fla. — A 30-year-old man is accused of killing his mother in DeBary on Wednesday. Volusia County deputies said David Rivera, 30, was arrested late Wednesday after his mother, Belgica Rivera, 55, was found dead in her home on Sunrise Boulevard. Read: School bus driver accused of driving 4 times over the legal limit with students aboardAfter taking David Rivera into custody, deputies said they noticed dried blood on his clothes that matched his mother’s blood. Deputies said David Rivera’s previous arrests include one that stemmed from a 2016 incident involving his mother. After an argument, deputies said, he climbed a tree and killed one of his mother’s dogs by hanging it.

Volusia County deputies arrested a man accused of killing his mother, according to the sheriff's office.

In retaliation, Venezuela reimprisoned six executives of Houston-based Citgo, a subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil giant, who had been under house arrest. It wasn’t something we were interested in nor was it a point of negotiation — ever,” he said in a brief statement. When he arrived to the Mexican capital, the meeting at The Westin hotel had already blown up over Grenell's insistence that any prisoner swap be accompanied with an exit plan for Maduro, Rivera said. In a subsequent call, Prince told Gorrín “that the Citgo 6 were simply not valuable enough to the Trump administration for a straight prisoner swap for Saab,” Rivera said. Whatever the extent of Trump's closed-door dealings with Maduro, families of nine Americans jailed in Caracas are less hopeful about the prospects for a deal under the Biden administration.

Knowledgeable sources and message exchanges reveal that Venezuela’s government quietly offered last year to release imprisoned Americans in exchange for the U.S. letting go a key financier of President Nicolás Maduro.

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(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)MIAMI – Newly filed lobbying records show Venezuela’s socialist government previously hired a longtime Democratic Party donor for $6 million at the same time it was lobbying to discourage the U.S. from imposing sanctions on the oil-rich nation. Federal prosecutors in Miami are also investigating whether the Republican broke foreign lobbying rules. Payments came from a little-known, Delaware-registered subsidiary, PDV USA, which provided shareholder services to PDVSA independent of Citgo's oil operations. “Wiss was engaged to provide PDV USA and its affiliates with legal services only,” she wrote in an e-mailed response to questions. PDV USA said Wiss provided updates on disputes involving PDVSA and advice on immigration, insurance, and cryptocurrency.

The purpose: to lure Exxon back to Venezuela after a decade's absence and inject much-needed dynamism into the OPEC nation's collapsing oil industry. But Sessions did engage in other mediation efforts in Venezuela over the next 15 months. The earlier email regarding Exxon and his connection to Rivera was not known at the time. The five-sentence message sent to Sessions' personal email address, which starts with the word eagle," is short on specifics. The U.S. Department of State would be your best resource for any information regarding contacts made with Venezuela, a spokesman said.

Guaid said Monday, May 11, 2020 that two U.S.-based political advisers have resigned following a failed incursion into Venezuela aimed at capturing President Nicols Maduro. In exchange, officials paid Gonzlez $20 million between 2014 and 2018 to provide goods and services to Citgo's parent company, PDVSA, at inflated prices. "Citgo lost millions of dollars as a result," the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit follows a similar complaint filed by Citgo two weeks ago against former Miami congressman David Rivera for allegedly breaking a $50 million consulting contract with PDVSA. To date, 28 individuals have been charged as part of the ongoing probe by prosecutors in Houston, Miami and Washington.