MIAMI (AP) — A former Miami lawmaker signed a $50 million consulting deal with Venezuela’s socialist government in a civil lawsuit, according to new information.
New charges against former Congressman David Rivera were filed Friday in New York federal court by opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who controls a U.S.-based affiliate of Venezuela’s national oil company.
Rivera’s InterAmerican Consulting sued in 2020 PDV USA — Delaware-based affiliate of Venezuelan-owned Citgo. What did Rivera do for his $50 million deal he signed in 2017 during his three months of “strategic consulting” aimed at building bridges with key U.S. stakeholders? claims that he did not work for
The same deal is the subject of an ongoing criminal investigation by federal prosecutors in Miami looking, among other things, whether Rivera failed to register as a foreign lobbyist as required by law.
Rivera has not been charged with a crime, but new filings delve into his dealings with Venezuela’s state-owned oil industry and how he spent the money he allegedly received.
Around the same time that Rivera was hired, the Maduro administration launched an attractive offensive to win the support of the Trump administration. Donated $500,000 to the committee.
The new court filings were recently uncovered by PDV USA attorneys, including 18,000 texts and WhatsApp messages from Rivera’s phone and statements he made during a two-day deposition in July. Evidence-based.
Rivera only received the original amount of $15 million, but he gave some of it to convicted drug traffickers and the company that manages the yacht, according to new filings. It is said to have been spent on irrelevant payments. Venezuelan TV mogul who was seeking arrest by US authorities.
“Mr. Rivera never provided services to Citgo and did not appear to intend to, according to PDV USA filings. “Instead, the true purpose of the agreement was to cover up the illicit trade. .”
Rivera did not respond to a request for comment, but has maintained his innocence. Counterclaim against PDV USA alleging breach of contract Unjustified enrichment for failing to pay $30 million he says is still outstanding.
In a message exchange with Maduro insider Raul Golin, who owns Venezuela’s largest private television network, Rivera is looking to set up a meeting between Venezuela’s foreign minister and executives of U.S. oil company Exxon, according to the filing. We talked.
The new filing cites Rivera and Gorin texting each other saying, “Like I said last night, tickets to the concert are $15, not $20.”
The meeting never took place because “During the deposition, Mr. Rivera was unable to explain the meaning of this message and testified that he did not remember attending the concert at the time.”
Rivera had asked the court to cover up communications with Gorin, whom the US accuses him of being the mastermind behind a conspiracy to siphon $1.2 billion from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA. Gorin is a lawyer, but he is not licensed to practice in the United States. A judge ruled in June that Rivera’s correspondence with him did not meet the standard of attorney-client privilege and must be surrendered as part of a process known as discovery.
About 75% of the $15 million Rivera received was transferred to other individuals, according to new filings. Rivera claimed the money was for services under the contract. PDV USA instead claims it was used to pay for the upkeep of one of Gorin’s superyachts.
A similar sum was awarded to Rivera’s alleged longtime political collaborator Esther Nouffer and Miami, who pleaded guilty to tax fraud in a massive drug-smuggling case against the feared Cali Cartel in the 1990s. We went to Hugo Perera, the developer.
Rivera testified that the payment was a referral fee and assistance received as part of a consulting contract, according to PDV USA. However, the new anti-Maduro management alleges that PDV USA did not give Rivera permission to outsource the work, as was explicitly requested in the consulting contract.
To justify the large payment, PDV USA alleges that Rivera created a “fake contract” dating back to March 20, 2017 (the day before the consulting agreement took effect).
Interglobal refused to sign the past-dated contract, saying it did not subcontract such services.
“In short, PDV USA received nothing from Interamerican in exchange for the $15 million payment,” plaintiffs allege. “Most of that money was transferred from the courts to third parties who have either been charged as fugitives or are under criminal investigation in connection with those payments.”
The filing also alleges that other payments deducted by Interamerican as expenses were actually moved between accounts controlled by Rivera. The new filing alleges that Rivera’s own accountant testified in a deposition after meeting with Internal Revenue Service criminal investigators that he believed his client had committed tax evasion.
According to PDV USA, the consulting contract contained all the fake features. Rivera’s Inter-American only made $9,500 a year before signing his multi-million dollar contract.
The lawsuit alleges that the company, then controlled by Maduro supporters, suddenly hired Inter-Americans without due diligence, and that while Rivera was supposedly working for it, no one at Citgo or PDV USA was involved. Instead, he submitted two of the seven progress reports he was asked to submit that were “insufficient and inconsistent.” .
“There is no evidence in written records that Interamerican performed any of the contracted services,” PDV USA claims in the new filing. “There is not a single e-mail, a single PowerPoint presentation, a single outline, a single memorandum, a single calendar entry, or anything to suggest that Interamerican has ever performed services.”
A Republican, Rivera served one term in Congress from 2011 to 2013, during which he honored Venezuelan exiles fleeing socialist rule until confronting then-President Hugo Chavez for alleged violations of the Organization of American States. Co-sponsored a bill seeking to withhold funding from the Venezuela Constitution.
While serving as a state legislator, he shared a home in Tallahassee with the current Sen. Marco Rubio, then president of the State Assembly. Since then, Rivera has been embroiled in several election-related controversies. These include coordinating the stealth fundraising of an unnamed Democratic candidate to battle his main rival in a congressional election in South Florida, a campaign last year where he was involved in a campaign finance campaign. He was fined $456,000 for breaking the law.
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