A federal grand jury indicted former U.S. Rep. David Rivera on Wednesday, accusing him of acting as an unregistered agent for Venezuelan national Raul Gorrín and laundering funds to conceal and promote his criminal conduct, CBS News reported.
Rivera, who took in more than $5.5 million as an unregistered foreign agent for Gorrín, created "fraudulent shell companies" and "false and fraudulent documents" to hide his activities, according to the indictment.
Federal law does not forbid someone acting as a foreign agent, but they must register and disclose their activities with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, The Hill reported.
In January 2019, the Treasury Department sanctioned Gorrín for his role in a bribery scheme connected to an illicit foreign exchange operation involving the Venezuelan Office of the National Treasury.
According to the indictment, from June 2019 through April 2020, Rivera lobbied executive branch officials to remove Gorrín from the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List.
Rivera received for his efforts 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, according to The Hill. He then is accused of transferring a portion of the funds to a shell company, which he used to pay another lobbyist.
This is not the first time the Rivera has been accused of failing to register as a foreign agent, as two years ago he 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.
In that case, which is still ongoing, Rivera is accused of receiving $50 million to lobby in an effort 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, according to The Hill.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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