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MIAMI — <\/span>A former Miami congressman and longtime friend of U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio<\/a> was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison in connection with a secret $50 million lobbying campaign on Venezuela\u2019s behalf during the first Trump administration.<\/p>\n Republican David Rivera has been jailed since jurors found him guilty<\/a> in May on all counts, including failing to register as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of his work for former Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> \u2019s government.<\/p>\n Rivera, 61, appeared stone-faced as Judge Melissa Damian denounced him for betraying his life\u2019s mission, saying he would surely have been judged harshly his many friends had the millions of dollars come from the Cuban regime instead of its allies in Caracas.<\/p>\n \u201cNobody would accept that\u2019s ok and I don\u2019t think this is different,\u201d the judge said. \u201cThere\u2019s no dispute this money came from the Maduro regime.\u201d<\/p>\n The seven-week trial offered a rare glimpse into Miami\u2019s role as a crossroads for foreign influence campaigns aimed at shaping U.S. policy toward Latin America, highlighting the city\u2019s reputation as a magnet for both anti-communist crusaders and corruption among its sizable exile population.<\/p>\n It included testimony from President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> secretary of state, Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas<\/a> and a top Washington lobbyist \u2014 all of whom testified they felt betrayed when learning of Rivera\u2019s mammoth consulting contract with a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela\u2019s state oil company, PDVSA. <\/p>\n Attorneys for Rivera plan to appeal and in June applied for a presidential pardon. Rivera faces additional federal charges in Washington, D.C., in a related foreign lobbying case.<\/p>\n In an indictment unsealed in 2022<\/a>, prosecutors alleged that Rivera was tapped by then Foreign Minister Delcy Rodr\u00edguez \u2014 now Venezuela\u2019s acting president<\/a> \u2014 to work Republican connections to get the first Trump administration to abandon its hard line and crippling sanctions on Venezuela. <\/p>\n As part of the charm offensive, Rivera and a co-defendant, political consultant Esther Nuhfer, sought to manipulate influential friends, including Rubio and Sessions<\/a>. Their goal was to normalize relations with the new Trump administration even as the Maduro government faced sanctions over serious accusations of human rights violations.<\/p>\n But Rivera and Nuhfer didn\u2019t disclose their lobbying work as required, for fear it would have ended Rivera\u2019s political career as an anti-communist stalwart, prosecutors argued at trial.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States and the public were the true victims of this fraud,\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Cruz said in urging a stiff sentence. \u201cHe used his position of trust \u2014 and betrayed it consistently and repeatedly.\u201d<\/p>\n To hide his work, prosecutors allege, Rivera also set up an encrypted chat group called MIA \u2014 for Miami \u2014 with his main conduit to the Maduro government: Venezuelan media tycoon Ra\u00fal Gorr\u00edn, who was subsequently charged in the U.S. with bribing<\/a> top Venezuelan officials. <\/p>\n Members of the group used playful code words to discuss their activities: Maduro was the \u201cbus driver,\u201d Sessions \u201cSombrero,\u201d Rodr\u00edguez \u201cThe Lady in Red,\u201d and their windfall payments \u201cLa Luz,\u201d Spanish for \u201cThe Light,\u201d according to copies of text messages presented to the jury. Rubio was known as \u201cMiss Clairol,\u201d because rubio means blond in Spanish.<\/p>\n At Friday\u2019s sentencing, attorneys for Rivera repeated their trial argument that the former congressman believed he was under no requirement to disclose the work. The three-month, $50 million contract with Rivera\u2019s one-man consulting firm, they said, was focused on luring oil giant ExxonMobil back to Venezuela \u2014 commercial work that is generally exempt from the Foreign Agents Registration Act.<\/p>\n \u201cDavid Rivera does not deserve to die in prison because he failed to file a FARA registration,\u201d defense attorney Ed Shohat said at Friday\u2019s hearing. \u201cIf he had filed that paper, that form, everything he did, including the $50 million contract, which totally distorted this case, is perfectly legal.\u201d<\/p>\n Wholly distinct from that consulting work, they say, were Rivera\u2019s meetings with Rubio and Sessions, which were focused on ushering in leadership in Venezuela that would be less hostile to the U.S. \u2013 not supporting Maduro in normalizing relations with the U.S. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not one word in any chat, not one document, not one thing he did to help Nicol\u00e1s Maduro,\u201d said Shohat.<\/p>\n Prosecutors said Rivera used the contract with the affiliate, New York-based PDV USA, as cover for illegal lobbying. <\/p>\n \u201cThis is a classic money laundering case,\u201d the judge said Friday in rejecting Rivera\u2019s motion to lower the federal guidelines range.<\/p>\n The partners tried to hide the work \u2014 backdating documents and coming up with sham agreements, like one to justify a wire transfer of $3.75 million to a South Florida company that maintained Gorr\u00edn\u2019s luxury yacht, prosecutors said. <\/p>\n The political activity included setting up meetings for Rodr\u00edguez in New York, Caracas, Washington and Dallas. As part of the effort, Rivera roped in Sessions, who later tried to broker a meeting for Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> with the ExxonMobil executive who took over as CEO when Rex Tillerson became Trump\u2019s first-term secretary of state<\/a>. After a secret meeting in Caracas<\/a> with Maduro, Sessions also agreed to deliver a letter from the Venezuelan president to Trump.<\/p>\n The outreach quickly unraveled, however. Within six months of taking office, Trump sanctioned Maduro<\/a> and labeled him a \u201cdictator,\u201d launching a \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d campaign to unseat the president. <\/p>\n And now, nearly a decade later, Rodr\u00edguez has emerged as the second Trump administration\u2019s trusted partner<\/a> after the U.S. military\u2019s ousting of Maduro.<\/p>\n Before being elected to Congress in 2010, Rivera was a high-ranking Florida legislator and shared a Tallahassee home with Rubio, who eventually became the Florida House speaker.<\/p>\n