Trial Begins for Ex-Congressman Rivera on Venezuela Lobbying Charges

A federal trial began Monday in Miami examining allegations that former U.S. Congressman David Rivera secretly lobbied American officials on behalf of Venezuela's government during the early months of President Donald Trump's first term in 2017. Prosecutors accuse Rivera, a Republican who represented southern Florida from 2011 to 2013, and his codefendant, political consultant Esther Nuhfer, of failing to register as foreign agents and conspiring to commit money laundering while working to ease U.S. pressure on then-President Nicolás Maduro's regime.

The case centers on a $50 million consulting contract that Rivera's firm, Interamerican Consulting, signed in March 2017 with PDV USA, a Houston-based subsidiary of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., or PDVSA. Prosecutors allege that Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela's foreign minister at the time and now its interim president, authorized the deal through a PDVSA affiliate to fund covert lobbying efforts aimed at improving relations with Washington and averting sanctions. Rivera received about $20 million from the contract before it ended later that year, according to court documents. He and Nuhfer have...