Former U.S. Congressman David Rivera Sentenced to 10 Years in Venezuela Lobbying and Money Laundering Case

Former U.S. Congressman David Rivera was sentenced on October 2, 2026 to 10 years in federal prison after a jury convicted him of secretly acting as an unregistered agent of the Venezuelan government and laundering millions of dollars connected to that work.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida, Rivera was convicted of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), violating FARA, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and four counts of engaging in transactions in criminally derived property.

Evidence presented at trial showed that Rivera and co-defendant Esther Nuhfer obtained a $50 million contract with a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), to advance Venezuelan government interests in the United States. Prosecutors said they lobbied U.S. officials and arranged meetings involving U.S. policymakers and senior Venezuelan officials without registering as foreign agents.

The trial evidence also showed that Rivera deposited approximately $1.5 million in proceeds from the contract into his Florida state congressional campaign account between March 2017 and August 2018. Nuhfer used approximately $455,000 in proceeds to purchase a residence in Key Colony Beach. Nuhfer, who was convicted of FARA and money laundering-related offenses, was previously sentenced to 60 months in federal prison.

The case was investigated by the FBI Miami Field Office and IRS Criminal Investigation, with support from the Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture.

Source

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, October 2, 2026.