Ex-US congressman sentenced to 10 years in prison for $50m lobbying scheme
A former US congressman has been sentenced to 10 years in a federal prison for money laundering and working as an undeclared foreign agent.
David Rivera, 61, who was elected as a Florida Republican, was found guilty in May after a seven-week trial heard Venezuela's state-run oil company hired his consulting firm to lobby members of Congress to help improve US relations with Venezuela.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a former housemate of Rivera, and Texas congressman Pete Sessions both testified to the court that they had no idea about his activities.
Defence lawyers had said the lobbying was for a US subsidiary of the oil company, not the Venezuelan government.
Rivera's associate, political consultant Esther Nuhfer, who was tried alongside him, was also found guilty in the case.
As a part of his sentence, Rivera, who served in Congress from 2011-13, must also forfeit his Florida properties.
Federal prosecutors in Florida said Rivera and Nuhfer engaged in a "secret political influence campaign", receiving a $50m (£37m) contract for three months of work on behalf of a US-based subsidiary of Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA, which is also known as Citgo.
Prosecutors alleged that, in 2017 and 2018, at the behest of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government, Rivera and Nuhfer attempted to lobby Rubio - then still a senator and former housemate of Rivera - as well as Kellyanne Conway, a former senior White House adviser.
The lobbying came during a moment of tense relations between the US and Venezuela, during President Donald Trump's first term in the White House when his administration imposed sanctions on the South American country.
Defence lawyers for Rivera and Nuhfer argued that the pair did not need to register as foreign agents because their contract was with a US-based subsidiary of a Venezuelan state company.
But Judge Melissa Damian said during Friday's sentencing: "There's no dispute this money came from the Maduro regime."
Rubio, who was not implicated in the wrongdoing, testified during the trial that he was close friends with Rivera but was unaware he was working as a lobbyist.
So trump's FCC goes after talk shows over equal time of political parties and then trump says this........
Trump says ‘MAGA and REAL Patriots’ will never like Fox News over hosting Democrats
President Trump on Wednesday went after Fox News over hosting Democrats on its network, with the president saying “MAGA, and REAL Patriots will never like Fox!”
“Why does FoxNews always put Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, Jessica Tarlov, and every Democrat on, saying bad things about the Republican Party and, of course, me?” the president said in a Wednesday afternoon Truth Social post.
“I actually think they get more airtime than Pro Republicans. This is why MAGA, and REAL Patriots, will never like Fox! They repeat a completely negative narrative, on and on it goes, and then we get a quick retort. It’s truly amazing that I won all three Elections,” he added, repeating his false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election.
Trump has a long history of attacking the media and press outlets, but Fox News has a history of being praised by the president, and he has also hired former Fox News personalities for his administration.
Last month, Trump went after “Fox News Sunday” anchor Shannon Bream because of on-air guests, charts and polls he claimed did not show off successful actions by his administration.
“In any event, Shannon’s ‘show’ is beyond redemption. Fortunately, MAGA, which is close to 100% of the Republican Party, understands that, and watch her ‘Ratings’ start to fall,” Trump said on Truth Social at the time.
“Chris Wallace was bad, but Shannon is even worse,” he added, referring to her predecessor.
Fox News is also one of the major TV networks that rotate covering the president for wider media distribution and recently said it would not do so after Trump barred three media outlets from the White House earlier this month.
So Trump's own FCC launches punitive threats against what they claim to be the left wing news media for not giving equal time to Republicans on one hand. Then trump himself lambastes a conservative network tor giving Democrats equal time. Yet from people who support trump they act like this is no big deal and never mention it.
Do you even bother to read anything before you reply?
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We have laws to deport people who are here illegally. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for traditional Medicaid, Medicare, or federal Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies.
They're saying her marriage had gone to Schmitt after she went to the theater. Bryon Noem, her estranged husband said he is just thankful she didn't kill the family dog..... yet.
Well, I see the hardcore trumpers are still self identifying on DT… didn’t anyone tell them MAGA is dead and their universe is disintegrating around them? Almost $7 a gallon for diesel, promises made promises kept? I thanked each and every traitor, er uh, Trump voter as I paid $6.27 a gallon for heating fuel oil. More than twice what I paid under biden.
This goes here. A thumbnail of all the major qb’s thru 4 games. Chambliss is still studding out. Apart from one pretty golden moment I’m sure a few here will (always) remember, Manning looking like he may still need a year at this point. Moore hasn’t been great and now a concussion. Mensah wasn’t really on my radar, is now. Sellers looking very average.
"I know I am getting old. I can feel it for the first time. I was in my hotel room. This is embarrassing I'm not going to lie. I was jerking off. I was really working at it. Sweating and everything. And I just gave up. I knew it wasn't happening.
I don't even like looking at my dick. Salt and pepper all down there.
Bro, the first three weeks are always murder for me. My attention is 100% on the Browns in the preseason. I spend the first three weeks saying "oh yeah, I forgot he plays there now". My win was 100% luck lol.
Anyway, you had the balls to pick some tough underdogs, including our Browns. Kudos.
In September 2026, the Iowa Farmers Union (IFU) officially endorsed a full slate of Democratic candidates for both federal and state-level elections. Group leadership stated that the candidates were scored and selected based on their commitment to family farmers regarding critical issues like corporate consolidation, unfair trade policies, rural healthcare, and water quality.
College, for many, has historically been something "you just go and do". You come out with a piece of paper and hopefully it works for you.
I think college, nowadays, should be viewed as an investment. There are good investments and bad investments, and bad investments will set you back. You really have to put some thought into your degree beyond how interesting it sounds. Will it help you land a higher-paying job and pay the bills? You have to think about that because you're going to have at least 1 big bill coming out of school. Obviously, scholarships can play a large role in college choices, but those can be tougher to come by and you're still likely to come out of it with loans to pay.
Anyone else annoyed with "The Athletic" crap that keeps popping up on NFL.com? They are trying to get you to subscribe. It sucks I do my best to avoid the "A" prefixes now
Browns coulda dropped DW and eaten the loss. Keeping him now for the money considerations, and I see no way forward that includes him. We shoulda kept Schwartz; last game was a larger step backward than I anticipated. We woulda been ahead with a few more veterans, because MG's loss has more impact than we have seen yet. Cute mental exercise to show common ground in Browns fans. But we have managed two things: First, we failed to address QB even in our own room, and we wasted time and reps doing so. Second, our basic fundamentals, especially tackling, blocking, pass rushing, and play mix are not going resemble how we see winning teams demonstrate. Cringe-worthy it is.
There is no way the Browns could have dropped Watson this season. The cap hit would have just destroyed their ability to field a team. They had to play out this team, and then designate him as a post June release so they can split the total left at that point between 2027 and 2028. If we had just dumped him this year, the dead cap was something like $128 million.
Definitely couldn't have dropped him, but I'm curious how much of the restructures to drag out the cap hit were necessary or if we were still trying to save the plan vs blow everything up.
i guess you could re sign with the same losing team for more money and then bolt to another SB contender for even more money. that could ease a lot of pain
