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David Rivera, a former Republican legislator from Miami, was arrested last Monday in Atlanta on criminal charges. The situation followed a federal investigation into a $50 million consulting contract he signed with state-owned Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), controlled by Nicolás Maduro’s dictatorship.
Rivera, according to the Associated Press, had signed a $50 million consulting contract in 2017 with the U.S. subsidiary of Venezuela’s Petroleos de Venezuela, an entity called Citgo, with the aim of improving that corporation’s image in the United States.
“The eight-count indictment alleges that Rivera at the beginning of the Trump administration was part of a conspiracy to lobby on behalf of Venezuela to reduce tensions with the United States, resolve a legal dispute with an American oil company and end sanctions against the regime – all without registering as a foreign agent,” the media outlet details.
The accusation against David Rivera
Rivera was indicted on Nov. 16 by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida in Miami, but the document remains sealed, reported FEE, so the charges are not officially known.
In addition, the media outlet added that “the agreement established that Interamerican would charge US$50 million for its services between March and June 2017, which would be paid in six payments by PDV’s subsidiary, according to the lawsuit”.
David Rivera is a Cuban-American who was born in New York on September 16, 1965 and moved to Florida in 1974. His parents fled Cuba after the political rise of Fidel Castro.
Williams Perdomo es periodista y escritor, especializado en las fuentes Política y Cultura.