DOJ alleges ex-congressman acted as unregistered foreign agent of sanctioned Venezuelan businessman

The Department of Justice unsealed an indictment Wednesday accusing a former Miami-area congressman of raking in more than $5.5 million as an unregistered foreign agent for a sanctioned Venezuelan businessman.

Former Rep. David Rivera (R-Fla.), whose lone House term was from 2011-13, allegedly failed to register as a foreign agent and created “fraudulent shell companies” and “false and fraudulent documents” to conceal his activities, according to the indictment.

Federal law does not prohibit individuals or firms from acting as a foreign agent, even a former congress member, but they are required to register and disclose their activities with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

In January 2019, the Treasury Department sanctioned Raúl Gorrín Belisario for his role in a bribery scheme related to an illicit foreign exchange operation involving the Venezuelan Office of the National Treasury.

According to the indictment, from approximately June 2019 through April 2020, Rivera lobbied executive branch officials to remove Gorrín from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, or SDN List.

Gorrín remains on the SDN List, according to The Hill’s review of it after its latest update, which was Wednesday.

For his services, Rivera received more than $5.5 million through Hong Kong intermediary companies, the indictment alleged.

Rivera allegedly received those funds through his firm, Interamerican Consulting, and used it to pay an individual who helped lobby on Gorrín’s behalf. He then is accused of transferring a portion to a shell company, which he used to pay another lobbyist.

Rivera did not return a request for comment through the email listed on incorporation records for his firm. Ed Shohat, an attorney for Rivera, declined to comment.

The former congressman has been plagued by allegations of failing to register as a foreign agent.

In 2022, Rivera and one of his former political consultants were arrested for his work on behalf of the state-owned and -controlled oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.

That eight-count indictment alleged Rivera received $50 million to lobby to ease tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela, resolve a legal fight with a U.S. oil company and block additional economic sanctions against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and other political allies. The case is ongoing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

Updated at 12:24 p.m. EST

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