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.
By AP News – Joshua Goodman
Aug 20, 2022
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. It alleges Rivera performed no work for the $50 million contract he signed in 2017 for three months of “strategic consulting” meant to build bridges with key U.S. stakeholders.
The same contract has been the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in Miami looking into, among other things, whether Rivera failed to register as a foreign lobbyist as required bv law.
Rivera has not been charged with any crime, but the new filings give a detailed look at his dealings with Venezuela’s state-run oil industry and how he allegedly spent the money he received.
Around the same time Rivera was hired, Maduro’s government had launched a charm offensive to curry favor with the Trump administration. It initially avoided outright criticism of the new U.S. leader and even donated $500,000 to his inaugural committee through Citgo.
The new court filing is based on evidence only recently uncovered by PDV USA’s attorneys, including 18,000 text and WhatsApp messages from Rivera’s phone and statements he made during a two-day deposition in July.
Rivera received only $15 million of the original amount, but the new filing says he spent part of that on unexplained payments to a convicted drug trafficker and to a company managing yachts on behalf of a Venezuelan TV magnate wanted for arrest by U.S. authorities.
“Mr. Rivera never provided any services to Citgo and, it appears, never intended to do so,” according to the filing by PDV USA. “Instead, the true purpose of the agreement was to cover up illicit transactions.”
Rivera did not reply to a request for comment, but he has maintained his innocence and has countersued PDV USA alleging breach of contract and unjust enrichment for its failure to pay $30 million he says he is still owed.
According to the filing, in one exchange of messages with Raul Gorrin — a Maduro insider who owns Venezuela’s largest private TV network — Rivera discussed trying to set up a meeting between Venezuela’s foreign minister and executives from the U.S. oil company Exxon.
The new filing cites a message in which Rivera and Gorrin texted one another that “the concert ticket is $15, not 20, as we said last night” – wording PDV USA’s lawyers call a “clear reference to a bribe.”
“At deposition, Mr. Rivera was unable to explain what this text message meant, and testified that he did not remember attending any concerts at that time,” PDV USA stated in its filing. It did not say who a bribe might have been meant for and the meeting never took place.
Rivera had asked the court to shield his communications with Gorrin, who the U.S. alleges was the mastermind of a conspiracy to siphon $1.2 billion from PDVSA – Venezuela’s state oil company. Gorrin is a lawyer, though not licensed to practice in the United States, and a judge in June ruled that Rivera’s communications with him did not meet the threshold for attorney-client privilege and must be handed over as part of what’s known as discovery.
Of the $15 million that Rivera received, about 75% was transferred to other individuals, according to the new filing. Around $3.75 million was transferred to a Miami company, Interglobal Yacht Management. Rivera claimed the money was an expense for services under the contract. PDV USA alleges instead it was used to pay for maintenance on one of Gorrin’s superyachts.
Similar amounts went to Esther Nuhfer, who is described as a longtime political associate of Rivera, as well as Hugo Perera, a Miami developer who pleaded guilty to tax fraud in a massive drug-smuggling case in the 1990s against the feared Cali Cartel.
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Read More: AP News – New claims against ex-Miami congressman hired by Venezuela
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